The History of Bees
Maja Lunde (transl., Diane Oatley), 2017
Touchstone
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501161377
Summary
In the spirit of Station Eleven and Never Let Me Go, this dazzling and ambitious literary debut follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present, and future, weaving a spellbinding story of their relationship to the bees—and to their children and one another—against the backdrop of an urgent, global crisis.
England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive—one that will give both him and his children honor and fame.
United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation.
China, 2098. Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao’s young son is taken away by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him.
Haunting, illuminating, and deftly written, The History of Bees joins these three very different narratives into one gripping and thought-provoking story that is just as much about the powerful bond between children and parents as it is about our very relationship to nature and humanity.
(From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1975
• Where—Norway
• Education—University of Oslo
• Currently—lives in Oslo, Norway
Maja Lunde is a Norwegian author and screenwriter. Lunde has written ten books for children and young adults. She has also written scripts for Norwegian television, including for the children’s series Barnas supershow (“The Children’s Super Show”), the drama series Hjem (“Home”) and the comedy series Side om Side (“Side by Side”). The History of Bees is her first novel for adults. She lives with her husband and three children in Oslo. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Is climate-themed fiction all too real? As scientists’ projections about the effects of climate change have increasingly become reality, some works of apocalyptic fiction have begun to seem all too plausible. Maja Lunde’s first book chronicles three generations as they exploit, try to save and eventually mimic bees.
New York Times
The History of Bees brings climate change into the realm of book-club fiction.… Lunde’s exploration of the tension between human instinct and the need for selflessness couldn’t be more timely.
Los Angeles Times
Lunde, a Norwegian author and screenwriter, threads a common string through these characters. The novel becomes far less about bees than about family — about how the relationship between parent and child can be passionate, desperate, tragic and uplifting….The History of Bees is a dark read, and yet it ends on a wavering note of optimism. It’s been likened to Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 sci-fi novel Station Eleven, with good reason.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
[T]he author…explores…the potentially bleak outcome for a world that ignores the warning signs …and allows honeybees to disappear.… [B]oth a multifaceted story and a convincing and timely wake-up call.
Publishers Weekly
This book… weaves together three fairly disparate stories spread across the better part of two and a half centuries.… Lunde’s compelling narrative draws the reader in.… [T]he "butterfly effect" is in full effect, as decisions made long ago and far away influence outcomes in unpredictable but realistic ways.
BookPage
Three interwoven tales from 1851, 2007, and 2098 tell the story of our dependency on bees.…Tao's quest to find her son and understand what happened to him will ultimately tie the three stories together…. Illuminating if not much fun.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The History Of Bees alternates between three perspectives: those of Tao, George, and William. With which of these three main characters did you most relate? To whom did you find it hardest to connect? With whom do you most identify?
2. On page 30, William’s mentor, Rahm, opines "One reproduces, has offspring, one instinctively puts their needs first, they are mouths to feed, one becomes a provider, the intellect steps aside to make way for nature." Do you agree or disagree with Rahm’s statement? What do you think William felt when his mentor put it thusly?
3. On page 36, George thinks longingly of the bees’ buzzing as the "real reunion celebration." How does George’s expectation of how his reunion with Thomas will go impact how the two men relate to each other?
4. Throughout the book, there’s great emphasis on experience vs. intellect. Think of George’s experience vs. Thomas’s books, Tao’s attempts to discover what happened to Wei-Wen, William’s relationship with Rahm. Which brand of "knowledge" do you think is more valuable?
5. George is preoccupied with leaving a "legacy" behind, resisting Emma’s attempts to move them to Florida. From where does his legacy ultimately come? Is it what you expected?
6. William, on page 116, says of his desired creation "Only humans could construct proper buildings, a building it was possible to monitor, which gave humans, not nature, control." From where does the impulse to control nature come? Do you think that a desire to control the natural world is something humans can overcome without catastrophic reason?
7. How do the workings of the hive impart a lesson for humans? Is there any wisdom to be gleaned from the way their "society" works?
8. When George goes on the camping trip with young Tom, he tells him a tale about a snake (p. 186). What could the snake be symbolic of?
9. Colony Collapse is partially about abandonment of the queen. How does the theme of abandonment or fear of abandonment play out throughout the novel, specifically in Tao’s timeline?
10. Both William and Tao find refuge in going to bed, while George finds himself unable to rest. How do the characters hide from their loved ones? Where do they each find solace?
11. Which character do you think is most important in the book? Whose life story holds the three narrative threads together?
12. On page 316, Tao notices that Li Xiara and the teenage boy are using the same words to describe two very different feelings—"Each and every one of us is not important" could be about either community or loneliness. Do you find meaning in community? How? How could a sense of community be taken too far?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The History of Love
Nicole Krauss, 2005
W.W. Norton & Company
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780393328622
Summary
A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands full—keeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wild—she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories.
This extraordinary book was inspired by the author's four grandparents and by a pantheon of authors whose work is haunted by loss—Bruno Schulz, Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and more. It is truly a history of love: a tale brimming with laughter, irony, passion, and soaring imaginative power. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1974
• Reared —Old Westbury, Long Island, USA
• Education—Stanford University; Oxford University
• Awards—William Saroyan Int'l. Prize; Prix du Meilleur Livre
Etranger (France); Edward Lewis Wallant Award
• Currently—Brooklyn, New York
Nicole Krauss is an American author of several novels: Forest Dark (2017), Great House (2010), The History of Love (2005), and Man Walks into a Room (2002). Her work has achieved wide acclaim, with The New York Times referring to her as "one of America's most important authors."
Her fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, and Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40, and has been collected in Best American Short Stories (2003 and 2008). Her novels have been translated into thirty-five languages.
Krauss was born in New York City to an English mother and an American father who grew up partly in Israel. Krauss's maternal grandparents were born in Germany and Ukraine and later emigrated to London. Her paternal grandparents were born in Hungary and Slonim, Belarus, met in Israel, and later emigrated to New York. Many of these places are central to Krauss's 2005 novel, The History of Love, and the book is dedicated to her grandparents.
At the age of 14 Krauss became serious about writing. Until she began her first novel in 2002, Krauss wrote and published mainly poetry.
Education
Krauss enrolled in Stanford University in 1992, and that fall she met Joseph Brodsky who worked closely with her on her poetry over the next three years. He also introduced her to such writers as Italo Calvino and Zbigniew Herbert, who would have a lasting influence.
In 1999, three years after Brodsky died, Krauss produced a documentary about his work for BBC Radio 3, traveling to St. Petersburg where she stood in the "room and a half" where he grew up, made famous by his essay of that title. Krauss majored in English and graduated with Honors, winning a number of undergraduate prizes for her poetry as well as the Dean's Award for academic achievement. She also curated a reading series (with Fiona Maazel) at the Russian Samovar, a NYC restaurant co-founded by Brodsky.
In 1996, she was awarded a Marshall Scholarship and enrolled in a Masters program at Oxford University where she wrote her thesis about the American artist Joseph Cornell. During the second year of her scholarship she attended the Courtauld Institute in London, where she received a Masters in Art History, specializing in seventeenth-century Dutch art, and writing a thesis on Rembrandt.
In 2004, Krauss married the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. They live in Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, and have two children. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
There are also two kinds of writers given to the verbal tangents and cartwheels and curlicues that adorn Ms. Krauss's vertiginously exciting second novel: those whose pyrotechnics lead somewhere and those who are merely showing off. While there are times when Ms. Krauss's gamesmanship risks overpowering her larger purpose, her book's resolution pulls everything that precedes it into sharp focus. It has been headed for this moment of truth all along.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
Even in moments of startling peculiarity, [Krauss] touches the most common elements of the heart. For Leo, obsessed with his death but struggling to be noticed, and for Alma, ready to grow up but arrested by her mother's grief, the persistence of love drives them to an astonishing connection. In the final pages, the fractured stories of The History of Love fall together like a desperate embrace.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
The last words of this haunting novel resonate like a pealing bell. "He fell in love. It was his life." This is the unofficial obituary of octogenarian Leo Gursky, a character whose mordant wit, gallows humor and searching heart create an unforgettable portrait. Born in Poland and a WWII refugee in New York, Leo has become invisible to the world. When he leaves his tiny apartment, he deliberately draws attention to himself to be sure he exists. What's really missing in his life is the woman he has always loved, the son who doesn't know that Leo is his father, and his lost novel, called The History of Love, which, unbeknownst to Leo, was published years ago in Chile under a different man's name. Another family in New York has also been truncated by loss. Teenager Alma Singer, who was named after the heroine of The History of Love, is trying to ease the loneliness of her widowed mother, Charlotte. When a stranger asks Charlotte to translate The History of Love from Spanish for an exorbitant sum, the mysteries deepen. Krauss (Man Walks into a Room) ties these and other plot strands together with surprising twists and turns, chronicling the survival of the human spirit against all odds. Writing with tenderness about eccentric characters, she uses earthy humor to mask pain and to question the universe. Her distinctive voice is both plangent and wry, and her imagination encompasses many worlds.
Publishers Weekly
A boy in Poland falls in love and writes a book when World War II arrives, and both the love and the book are lost. Leo Gursky, now in his eighties and living in New York City, struggles to be noticed each day so that people will know he has not yet died. Meanwhile, 14-year-old Alma Singer wants her brother to be normal and her mother to be happy again after the death of Alma's father. In a quest for the story behind her name, Alma and Leo find each other, and Leo learns that the book he wrote so long ago has not been lost. Krauss (Man Walks into a Room) develops the story beautifully, incrementally revealing details to expose more and more of the mystery behind Leo's book, The History of Love. At the end, some uncertainty remains about a few of the characters, but it does not matter because the important connections between them are made. Recommended for literary fiction collections. —Sarah Conrad Weisman, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Library Journal
The histories of several unresolved, inchoate and remembered loves. The first of the stories here is that of New York City octogenarian Leo Gursky, a Polish war refugee who came to America seeking Alma, the girl he had loved, who had emigrated before him. Following a bleakly funny opening sequence that sharply dramatizes Leo's undiminishable vitality, and also reveals teasing details about Alma's American life, second-novelist Krauss (Man Walks into a Room, 2002) shifts the focus to adolescent Alma Singer, who's edging cautiously toward womanhood while dealing with her unstable younger brother Emanuel (aka "Bird") and widowed mother Charlotte (a literary translator). Alma's memories of her late father, a cancer victim, take the forms of a fixation on survival techniques and an obsession with an autobiographical book (which Charlotte translates): a homage to another Alma, and the work of Holocaust survivor Zvi Litvinoff, whose resemblances to and connections with Leo Gursky lie at the heart of this novel's unfolding mysteries. Suffice it to say that each of Krauss's searching and sentient characters is both exactly who he or she seems to be and another person entirely, and that that paradox is expertly worked out as Krauss gradually reveals the provenance of the eponymous History; the relationship that embraces Litvinoff, Gursky and the latter's mysterious upstairs neighbor Bruno; and the woman or women they "all" loved and lost. These enigmas are deepened and underscored by the chaotic "diary" in which Bird records the apocalyptic fantasies that are at heart his own history of love and loss, another son's search for another father, and an affirmation of the compensation for loss through exercise of the imagination that this brilliant novel itself so memorably incarnates. A most unusual and original piece of fiction—and not to be missed.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Leo Gursky and Alma Singer make an unlikely pair, but what they share in common ultimately brings them together. What are the similarities between these two characters?
2. Leo fears becoming invisible. How does fiction writing prove a balm for his anxiety?
3. Explore the theme of authenticity throughout the narrative. Who's real and who's a fraud?
4. Despite his preoccupation with his approaching death, Leo has a spirit that is indefatigably comic. Describe the interplay of tragedy and comedy in The History of Love.
5. What distinguishes parental love from romantic love in the novel?
6. Why is it so important to Alma that Bird act normal? How normal is Alma?
7. When Alma meets Leo, she calls him the "oldest man in the world." Does his voice sound so ancient?
8. Uncle Julian tells Alma, "Wittgenstein once wrote that when the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it." How does this philosophical take on the artistic process relate to the impulse to write in The History of Love?
9. Many different narrators contribute to the story of The History of Love. What makes each of their voices unique? How does Krauss seam them together to make a coherent novel?
10. Survival requires different tactics in different environments. Aside from Alma's wilderness guidelines, what measures do the characters in the novel adopt to carry on?
11. Most all of the characters in the novel are writers—from Isaac Moritz to Bird Singer. Alma's mother is somewhat exceptional, as she works as a translator. Yet she is not the only character to transform others' words for her creative practice. What are the similarities and differences between an author and a translator?
12. What are the benefits of friendship in the novel? Why might Alma feel more comfortable remaining Misha's friend rather than becoming his girlfriend?
13. The fame and adulation Isaac Moritz earns for his novels represent the rewards many writers hope for, while Leo, an unwitting ghostwriter, remains unrecognized for his work. What role does validation play in the many acts of writing in The History of Love?
14. Leo decides to model nude for an art class in order to leave an imprint of his existence. He writes to preserve the memories of his love for Alma Mereminski. Yet drawings and novels are never faithful renditions of the truth. Do you recognize a process of erasure in the stories he tells us?
15. Why might Krauss have given her novel the title The History of Love, the same as that of the fictional book around which her narrative centers?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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History of the Rain
Niall Williams, 2014
Bloomsbury, USA
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781620406472
Summary
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. That’s how it seems to me, being alive for a little while, the teller and the told.
So says Ruthie Swain.
The bedridden daughter of a dead poet, home from college after a collapse (Something Amiss, the doctors say), she is trying to find her father through stories—and through generations of family history in County Clare (the Swains have the written stories, from salmon-fishing journals to poems, and the maternal MacCarrolls have the oral) and through her own writing (with its Superabundance of Style).
Ruthie turns also to the books her father left behind, his library transposed to her bedroom and stacked on the floor, which she pledges to work her way through while she’s still living.
In her attic room, with the rain rushing down the windows, Ruthie writes Ireland, with its weather, its rivers, its lilts, and its lows. The stories she uncovers and recounts bring back to life multiple generations buried in this soil—and they might just bring her back into the world again, too. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1958
• Where—Dublin, Ireland
• Education—B.A., M.A., University College, Dublin
• Currently—Kiltumper, County Clare, Ireland
Niall Williams is an Irish author and playwright. He studied English and French literature at University College Dublin before graduating with a Master's degree in Modern American Literature.
He moved to New York in 1980 where he married Christine Breen, also a novelist, whom he had met while she was a Master's student also at UCD, and took his first job opening boxes of books in Fox and Sutherland's bookshop in Mount Kisco. He later worked as a copywriter for Avon Books in New York City before leaving America with Chris in 1985 to attempt to make a life as a writer.
Between 1985 and 1997, Niall cowrote four nonfiction books with his wife, recounting the couple's life together in Kiltumper in west Clare. In 1991 Niall's first play The Murphy Initiative was staged at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His second play, Little Like Paradise was produced on the Peacock stage of The Abbey Theatre in 1995. His third play, The Way You Look Tonight, was produced by Galway's Druid Theatre Company in 1999.
Novels
Niall's first novel, Four Letters of Love, published in 1997, went on to become an international bestseller and has been published in over twenty countries. ♦ His second novel, As it is in Heaven, published in 1999, was long listed for the Irish Times IMPAC Literary Award. ♦ His third novel, The Fall of Light, was released in Britain and Ireland, France, Italy and America. ♦ His fourth novel, Only Say The Word, came out in 2005 in several countries. ♦ His fifth novel, Boy in the World, published in 2007 was dedicated to his son Joseph. He wrote chapters and sent them to Joseph who was away at boarding school. ♦ Niall continued the story in the sequel, Boy and Man, his sixth novel. ♦ Niall's seventh novel, John, explores the life of John the apostle, who reportedly lived 100 years while awaiting Jesus's return. ♦ His 2014 novel, History of the Rain, has been long listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize.
He is at work on several screenplays, including one on his novel Four Letters of Love.
Williams currently lives in west Clare with his wife and two children. He worked as a mentor for MFA students of Carlow University in Pittsburgh. He was also the writer-in-residence for County Sligo, in Ireland, for the previous two years. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 11/20/2014.)
Book Reviews
[A] unique voice and a droll, comic tone that takes a surprising, serious turn.... The energy, tone, and premise of the book work well; the decision to view Ruthie’s experiences through the lens of literature pays off.... Williams makes so many good stylistic and storytelling choices that his latest is well worth the read.
Publishers Weekly
History of the Rain is charming, wise and beautiful. It is a love letter to Ireland in all its contradictions, to literature and poetry and family. It acknowledges that faith itself is a paradox, both impossible and necessary. And faith carries this novel—faith that stories can save us, that love endures, that acceptance is within reach, and finally, that it is possible to get to the other side of grief.
Shelf Awareness
(Starred review.) Destined to be a classic, [History of the Rain] isn't just the elegy Ruthie offers to the departed but also a love letter to reading and its life-giving powers. [Ruthie's] voice and narrative remain utterly unique even as she invites comparisons to Jim Hawkins, Ishmael, and hosts of legendary literary narrators
Library Journal
(Starred review.) You can smell the peat burning and feel the ever-present mist in acclaimed Irish novelist Williams’ luscious paean to all who lose themselves in books. Williams captures the awe and all of Ireland—its myths and mysteries, miseries and magic—through the pitch-perfect voice of a saucily defiant young woman who has witnessed too much tragedy but who clings devotedly to those she’s lost.
Booklist
A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humor and heartbreak.... [A] long, sentimental, affectionate poem to Irishness generally...and one quirky family in particular that insists on being read at its own erratic pace.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
The History of Us
Leah Stewart, 2013
Simon & Schuster
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061128660
Summary
In the newest novel by the celebrated author of The Myth of You and Me (which Claire Messud called “poignant, fierce, and compelling”), three grown siblings return to their childhood home and face a family secret that forces them to reexamine their relationships to each other—and to the aunt who took them in as children.
Eloise Hempel is on her way to teach a class at Harvard when she receives a devastating phone call. Her sister and her husband have been killed in a tragic accident, and Eloise must return home to Cincinnati to take their three children, Theodora, Josh, and Claire, out of the hands of her own incapable mother. She moves back into her mother’s century-old house and, after her mother leaves, pours her own money into its upkeep.
Nearly two decades later, Eloise is still in that house with now-grown Theo, Josh, and Claire, still thinking about the career and life she left behind, even as she pushes the kids to get a move on. With Claire leaving for New York City for a promising ballet career, Eloise has plans to finally sell the house and start a life that’s hers alone. But when her mother creates a competition for which of them gets the house and Claire turns out to have a life-changing secret, their makeshift family begins to fall apart.
The History of Us is a heartrending story of loss, sibling relationships, and the life you make in the path not taken. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1973
• Where—Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, USA
• Raised—Virginia, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico (USA); England, UK
• Education—B.A., Vanderbilt University; M.F.A., University of
Michigan
• Awards—National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• Currently—lives in Cincinnati, Ohio
Leah Stewart was born in 1973 at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, where her father was stationed. As a child, she lived in Virginia, Idaho, England, Kansas, and Virginia again. She went to high school in Clovis, New Mexico, a town featured in her second novel, The Myth of You and Me. She always wanted to be a writer, as evidenced by her college application essay.
At Vanderbilt University Leah was the editor of the student newspaper, the Vanderbilt Hustler, and spent summers interning for the Tennessean in Nashville and the Commercial Appeal in Memphis. The latter experience inspired her first novel, Body of a Girl. After college, Leah went to the MFA program at the University of Michigan, and then moved to Boston, where she put her master’s degree to work by taking a job as a secretary for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She had an office with a door, and she wrote most of her first novel there.
Since then, Leah has worked as a secretary at Duke, a cataloguer in a used bookstore, a magazine editor, a copyeditor, and a staff member at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She has been a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, Sewanee, and Murray State University. The recipient of a 2010 NEA Literature Fellowship, Leah teaches in the University of Cincinnati’s creative writing program, and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Touching drama.... Faced with urgent choices, Eloise and the grown kids react with varying degrees of wisdom and pigheadedness, but as Stewart tenderly demonstrates, they remain – for better or worse—a family.
People
In Stewart’s new novel (after The Myth of You and Me), Eloise Hempel, at 45, is a history professor whose rising career is derailed when her sister dies, leaving her custody of her sister’s three children. Eloise returns home to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she does her best to raise Theodora, 11; middle-child Josh, and two-year-old Claire in her family’s large, enviable home. Seventeen years later, her sister’s children now adults, Eloise reveals her plan to sell the house and, maybe, move in with Heather, her secret girlfriend. But Theo, Josh, and Claire, none of whom want the house to be sold, confront Eloise, each other, and themselves; in trying to come to terms with adulthood and responsibility, they are all nearly ripped apart. Stewart’s novel is an intimate exploration of a family in crisis and the different ways in which people cope with grief. While the plot meanders and the characters seem paralyzed with indecision, readers will empathize with their plight. Unfortunately, the combination of a melodramatic story line and a focus on minutiae make for a forgettable read.
Publishers Weekly
Stewart (The Myth of You and Me) has a knack for introducing characters in need of mending: they are not broken, just disjointed, needy, and, at times, without emotional support. Eloise Hempel is the de facto mother to three twentysomething siblings...for 20 years.... Looking toward future domestic arrangements, Eloise slowly hedges toward momentous decisions, while the siblings dabble in their own decision making, sometimes with disastrous results. Verdict: Domestic fiction fans favoring strong, intelligent characters will be intrigued by Stewart's introspective examination of a family. —Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA
Library Journal
Stewart is a wonderful observer of family relationships, and she adroitly weaves the stories of Eloise and the children she’s raised—their work, their loves, their disappointments and dreams—while focusing on what ties families together, and what ultimately keeps those ties from breaking.
BookPage
A poignant exploration of the meaning of family…the life they’ve lived was as much a gift as the life they lost.
Booklist
A professor who raised her late sister's three children grapples with the long-term consequences. At 28, Eloise is a rising star in Harvard's history department, having just published a much acclaimed book. She's prepared for a fulfilling academic career but not for the phone call she receives from her 11-year-old niece, Theo, telling her...the children's vacationing parents have perished in a helicopter crash, and their grandmother, Francine, is lying in bed, unable to cope.... Seventeen years later, the makeshift family is at a turning point.... With a playwright's precise, sometimes excoriating dialogue and an insightful novelist's judicious use of interior monologue, Stewart crafts a tearful yet unsentimental family coming-of-age story.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why did Eloise return to Cincinnati rather than have Theo, Josh, and Claire move to Boston? Do you think she made the right decision? Why or why not? What would you have done if you were in Eloise’s position?
2. Describe Eloise’s individual relationships with Theo, Josh, and Claire. What makes each relationship unique? What are the specific strains on each relationship? Do you think Eloise treats her adopted nieces and nephew differently? Did any of these relationships remind you of relationships in your own life?
3. Eloise “tried without success to break Theo of her fondness for their hometown.” (pg. 24) Why is Eloise adamant that Theo leave Cincinnati? Why does Theo believe that Josh, but not she herself, “should be in a bigger city” and “leading a bigger life” (pg. 57)?
4. What were Josh’s motivations for quitting his band and returning to Cincinnati? In what ways did Josh’s tempestuous situation with Sabrina affect his relationship with Theo? Did you understand his reasons for not telling Adelaide about Blind Robots?
5. How is Claire’s departure a turning point for Eloise, Theo, and Josh? Why does Claire not tell her family about her change of plans? Do you think Theo, Josh, and Eloise were more upset by her decision to quit ballet or by her deception?
6. What does the house “on Clifton Avenue near the intersection with Lafayette” (pg. 15) symbolize to each character? Do you think Eloise’s desire to be “unburdened” (pg. 76) by it due more to financial or emotional considerations? Have you ever felt a similar, conflicted connection to a certain place or city?
7. “It’s like she wants to sell our childhood” (pg 93), Theo says about Eloise’s desire to sell the house. Did you empathize more with Eloise or with Theo? Was Eloise justified in kicking Theo and Josh out of the house? Why or why not?
8. Discuss Francine’s character. What were your initial reactions to her? How did she change over the course of the novel? What were her motivations for creating a “competition” for the house? Why does Eloise ultimately come to sympathize her mother?
9. Why does Eloise insist on keeping her relationship with Heather a secret from her family and her colleagues? Is she ashamed of being in a romantic relationship with a woman, as Heather claims?
10. “These children are not mine, she thought. This fact, which at times had come with a pang of sorrow, now brought her comfort. She was just their aunt. If the world had turned as it should, she’d be nothing but a voice on the phone.” (pg. 225) Discuss your reactions to this passage. Do you understand Eloise’s resentment? What is your perception of Eloise as a parent, especially considering the circumstances of how she came into the role?
11. In what ways is Eloise’s trip to Chicago a pivotal moment for her? Why does she ultimately decide to stay in Cincinnati? Do you think she makes this choice for Heather, for her family, or for herself?
12. In what ways are each of the characters at a crossroads in their lives—both regarding their careers and romantic relationships? How does the loss of their parents continue to affect Theo, Josh, and Claire in adulthood and influence the decisions they make?
13. On pg 346 Theo wonders: “Why was it so hard to tell the difference between what you thought you wanted, and what you wanted?” What do you think she actually wants in life? Does she figure it out in the end? Have you ever been in a similar situation?
14. What kind of responsibility, if any, do parents have for their adult children? Are Eloise’s responsibilities for her grown-up nieces and nephew less since, as she says, she “inherited” them? What are your thoughts about Eloise’s assertion that Theo feels entitled to the house “because, these days in America, not until children have children of their own do they feel any gratitude to the people who raised them”? (pg. 130)
15. Discuss the way Cincinnati is described and portrayed in the novel. Have you ever visited or lived in Cincinnati? Did you think the descriptions were accurate? Discuss the connection between identity and place. How does the place where you live define you as a person? How has your setting affected your life?
16. The History of Us concludes with some significant issues in the characters’ lives left unresolved. What do you think the future holds for Eloise, Theo, Josh, and Claire? Do you think The History of Us is an accurate portrayal of family relationships?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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History of Wolves
Emily Fridlund, 2017
Atlantic/Grove
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802125873
Summary
Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in the beautiful, austere woods of northern Minnesota, where their nearly abandoned commune stands as a last vestige of a lost counter-culture world.
Isolated at home and an outlander at school, Linda is drawn to the enigmatic, attractive Lily and new history teacher Mr. Grierson. When Mr. Grierson is charged with possessing child pornography, the implications of his arrest deeply affect Linda as she wrestles with her own fledgling desires and craving to belong.
And then the young Gardner family moves in across the lake and Linda finds herself welcomed into their home as a babysitter for their little boy, Paul. It seems that her life finally has purpose but with this new sense of belonging she is also drawn into secrets she doesn’t understand.
Over the course of a few days, Linda makes a set of choices that reverberate throughout her life. As she struggles to find a way out of the sequestered world into which she was born, Linda confronts the life-and-death consequences of the things people do—and fail to do—for the people they love.
Winner of the McGinnis-Ritchie award for its first chapter, Emily Fridlund’s propulsive and gorgeously written History of Wolves introduces a new writer of enormous range and talent. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Washington University; Ph.D., University of Southern California
• Awards—Mary McCarthy Prize; McGinnis-Ritchie Award
• Currently—lives in Ithaca, New York
Emily Fridlund grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned an M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missour, and holds a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California.
Fridlund's fiction has appeared in a variety of journals, including Boston Review, Five Chapters, New Orleans Review, New Delta Review, Chariton Review, Portland Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly.
Her collection of stories, Catapult, was a finalist for the Noemi Book Award for Fiction and the Tartts First Fiction Award. It won the Mary McCarthy Prize and was published in 2017. The opening chapter of History of Wolves was published in Southwest Review and won the 2013 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction.
Fridland teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, part of the Finger Lakes region of New York State. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Few images in contemporary fiction have struck me as forcefully as that of Patra bent over in the driveway in anguish.... Fridlund has a tendency to...use two adjectives where one would do. But she is masterly when she lets more scraped-down prose push a series of elemental questions to the fore: Do intentions matter? What price will you pay to feel wanted?... The result is a novel of ideas that reads like smart pulp, a page-turner of craft and calibration.
Megan Hustad - New York Times Book Review
(Starred review.) [A] stellar debut.... [Fridlund's] wordsmithing is fantastic, rife with vivid turns of phrase. Fridlund has elegantly crafted a striking protagonist whose dark leanings cap off the tragedy at the heart of this book, which is moving and disturbing, and which will stay with the reader.
Publishers Weekly
Fridlund is a fine writer who excels at getting inside the head of an unhappy youth and revealing how neglect and isolation scar a child for life. Yet this first novel, as cold and bleak as a Minnesota winter, may be too dark for some readers. —Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
Library Journal
The writing is beautiful....a triumph of tone and attitude. Lovers of character-driven literary fiction will embrace this.
Booklist
(Starred review.) An atmospheric, near-gothic coming-of-age novel turns on the dance between predator and prey.... Fridlund is an assured writer.... The novel has a tinge of fairy tale, wavering on the blur between good and evil, thought and action. But the sharp consequences for its characters make it singe and sing—a literary tour de force.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for History of Wolves...then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe young Linda, not as a narrator of 37 but as she was in her teenage years? Do you consider her a sociopath, a narcissist, or simply a self-protective teenager?
2. Follow-up to Question 1: Is there a difference between Linda's adult voice as narrator and her younger self? Has she acquired wisdom since that fateful time in the woods?
3. What creates the bond between Linda and Patra and Paul—what draws them to one another?
4. Talk about Linda's parents and the way in which the author sets the two families up in contrast to one another.
5. Follow-up to Questions 3 and 4: One of the themes within History of Wolves is what constitutes family: is it flesh and blood...or is it something else? Talk about the nature of being a family.
6. How do the household dynamics change when Leo returns home to Patra and Paul?
7. Do a bit of research into Christian Science—consider its history and some of its tenets.
8. What do you think about the tragedy at the heart of this novel? To what extent does a family have the right to follow its own deeply-held religious beliefs?
9. In what way could you say that Linda's comment—"It's not what you think but what you do"—represents one of the moral lessons of the novel?
10. Mr. Grierson appears in the opening of the book, then disappears from the action, only to reappear again. His story can be seen as a parallel to Patra's, yet they are treated differently under the law. Are their respective treatments just?
11. In what way does the novel's setting, the frigid winter conditions of northern Minnesota, contribute to the story. Consider, for instance, that the weather deprives humans of warmth or comfort. Does the cold, perhaps, mirror human contact?
12. Consider the title, "History of Wolves." What is it's significance to the book's thematic concerns?
13. Do the shifting time frames make this book confusing...or do they add to its propulsive nature?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams, 1979
Random House
216 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345391803
Summary
Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, out-to-lunch kind of guy, is plucked from Earth just before it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
Towel in hand, he begins his journey through space qnd time with his rescuer Ford Perfect, a traveling researcher for the Guide. Together they begin a journey through the galaxy aided by quotes from "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," with the words "don’t panic" written on the front. (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”)
This is the first in a series of six novellas. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 11, 1952
• Where—Cambridge, UK
• Death—May 11, 2001
• Where—Santa Barbara, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Cambridge University
Douglas Noël Adams was an English writer, dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
He also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), Last Chance to See (1990), and three stories for the television series Doctor Who. A posthumous collection of his work, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Known to some of his fans as "Bop Ad" for his illegible signature, Adams became known as an advocate for animals and the environment, and a lover of fast cars, cameras, and the Apple Mac. He was a staunch atheist, famously imagining a sentient puddle who wakes up one morning and thinks, "This is an interesting world I find myself in—an interesting hole I find myself in—fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!" The biologist Richard Dawkins dedicated his book, The God Delusion, to Adams, writing on his death that, "science has lost a friend, literature has lost a luminary, the mountain gorilla and the black rhino have lost a gallant defender."
More (than you will ever want to know)
Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. At six, he passed the entrance exam for Brentwood School, a boarding school whose alumni include Robin Day, Jack Straw, Noel Edmonds, and David Irving. Griff Rhys Jones was a year below him, and he was in the same class as Stuckist artist Charles Thomson. He attended the prep school from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until December 1970. His form master, Frank Halford, said of him: "Hundreds of boys have passed through the school but Douglas Adams really stood out from the crowd—literally. He was unnaturally tall and in his short trousers he looked a trifle self-conscious. Yet it was his ability to write first-class stories that really made him shine." Adams was six feet tall (1.83 m) by age 12 and finally stopped growing at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m): "[T]he form-master wouldn't say 'Meet under the clock tower,' or 'Meet under the war memorial'," he joked, "but 'Meet under Adams'." He became the only student ever to be awarded a ten out of ten by Halford for creative writing, something he remembered for the rest of his life, particularly when facing writer's block.
Some of his earliest writing was published at the school, such as a report on its photography club in The Brentwoodian in 1962, or spoof reviews in the school magazine Broadsheet, edited by Paul Neil Milne Johnstone, who later became a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide. He also designed the cover of one issue of the Broadsheet, and had a letter and short story published nationally in The Eagle, the boys' comic, in 1965. On the strength of a bravura essay on religious poetry that discussed The Beatles and William Blake, he was awarded a place at St John's College, Cambridge to read English, going up in 1971, though in fact the reason he applied to Cambridge was to join the Footlights, an invitation-only student comedy club that acted as a hothouse for some of the most notable comic talent in England. He was not elected immediately as he had hoped, and started to write and perform in revues with Will Adams (no relation) and Martin Smith, forming a group called "Adams-Smith-Adams," but through sheer doggedness managed to become a member of the Footlights by 1973. Despite doing very little work—he recalled having completed three essays in three years—he graduated in 1974 with a B.A. in English literature.
Some of his early work appeared on BBC2 television in 1974, in an edited version of the Footlights Revue that year. A version of the Revue performed live in London's West End led to Adams being discovered by Monty Python's Graham Chapman. The two formed a brief writing partnership, and Adams earned a writing credit in one episode (episode 45: "Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party in 1982") of Monty Python for a sketch called "Patient Abuse"; he was one of only two people, outside the original Python members to get a writing credit (the other being Neil Innes). In the sketch, a man who had been stabbed by a nurse arrives at his doctor's office bleeding from the stomach. The doctor asks him to fill out numerous senseless forms before he will administer treatment (a joke later incorporated into the Vogons' obsession with paperwork). Adams also contributed to a sketch on the album for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
And then some
Douglas Adams in his first Monty Python appearance, in full surgeon's garb in episode 42. Douglas had two brief appearances in the fourth series of Monty Python's Flying Circus. At the beginning of episode 42, "The Light Entertainment War", Adams is in a surgeon's mask (as Dr. Emile Koning, according to on-screen captions), pulling on gloves, while Michael Palin narrates a sketch that introduces one person after another but never actually gets started. At the beginning of episode 44, "Mr. Neutron", Adams is dressed in a "pepperpot" outfit and loads a missile on to a cart driven by Terry Jones, who is calling for scrap metal ("Any old iron..."). The two episodes were broadcast in November 1974. Adams and Chapman also attempted non-Python projects, including Out of the Trees.
Some of Adams's early radio work included sketches for The Burkiss Way in 1977 and The News Huddlines. He also wrote, again with Graham Chapman, the 20 February 1977 episode of Doctor on the Go, a sequel to the Doctor in the House television comedy series.
As Adams had difficulty selling jokes and stories, he took a series of odd jobs, including as a hospital porter, barn builder, and chicken shed cleaner. He was employed as a bodyguard by a Qatar family, who had made their fortune in oil. Anecdotes about the job included that the family had once ordered one of everything from a hotel's menu, tried all the dishes, and sent out for hamburgers. Another story had to do with a prostitute sent to the floor Adams was guarding one evening. They acknowledged each other as she entered, and an hour later, when she left, she is said to have remarked, "At least you can read while you're on the job."
In 1979, Adams and John Lloyd wrote scripts for two half-hour episodes of Doctor Snuggles: "The Remarkable Fidgety River" and "The Great Disappearing Mystery" (episodes seven and twelve). John Lloyd was also co-author of two episodes from the original "Hitchhiker" radio series (Fit the Fifth and Fit the Sixth, also known as Episodes Five and Six), as well as The Meaning of Liff and The Deeper Meaning of Liff. Lloyd and Adams also collaborated on an SF movie comedy project based on The Guinness Book of World Records, which would have starred John Cleese as the UN Secretary General, and had a race of aliens beating humans in athletic competitions, but the humans winning in all of the "absurd" record categories. The latter never proceeded past a treatment.
After the first radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide became successful, Adams was made a BBC radio producer, working on Week Ending and a pantomime called Black Cinderella Two Goes East. He left the position after six months to become the script editor for Doctor Who. (From Wikipedia .)
Book Reviews
(Works prior to the internet have few online mainstream press reviews. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)
It's science fiction and it's extremely funny...inspired lunacy that leaves hardly a science fiction cliche alive.
Washington Post
The feckless protagonist, Arthur Dent, is reminiscent of Vonnegut heroes, and his travels afford a wild satire of present institutions.
Chicago Tribune
A whimsical odyssey.... Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy.
Publisher's Weekly
As parody, it's marvelous: It contains just about every science fiction cliche you can think of. As humor, it's, well, hysterical.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
1. You might start with talking about what you enjoyed about Hitchhiker? What made you laugh?
2. Hitchhiker has been described as a parody of government, politics, and big business. You might want to talk about how it parodies those institutions? Or does that kind of question ruin the fun of a hilarious romp through space?
3. The two most famous icons from the series are the towel and the phrase, "don't panic." You want to comment on that?
4. A more fruitful discussion might revolve around the way Hitchhiker series has permeated our popular culture. Some refer to its impact as "hitchhiker-mania," a phenomenon that has spun off a movie, TV series (with Stephen Hawkins, no less), and merchandise (towels and action figures). There are frequent references in rock, videogames, websites, and even an online translation service called Babel Fish! What is it about the series that inspires that kind of...following?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Hitler's Doubles: Fully-Illustrated
Peter Fotis Kapnistos, 2015
CreateSpace
pp. 572
ISBN-13: 9781496071460
Summary
Was the brutal dictator of the 20th century the masked instrument of a double image delusion? Recently released war records reveal “political decoys” (doppelgangers or body-doubles).
It is documented that the Nazi Fuhrer vetted at least four doubles. Look-alikes and crisis actors were used to impersonate Hitler in order to draw attention away from him and to deal with risks on his behalf. Hitler’s Doubles details their names, their peacetime occupations, their deaths, and an escape to South America.
The world’s first donor artificial insemination was with the wife of a Quaker in the late 1800s.
Who was the top-secret paternal donor? Was the Quaker-son secret agent Aleister Crowley one of Adolf Hitler’s doubles? Why did Walt Disney make use of Nazi scientists to build space technology after he visited South America? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Peter Fotis Kapnistos (born 1951) is a Greek American journalist, editor, and publisher residing in the Eastern Mediterranean islands. Peter was editor for the Athens News, Greece's oldest English-language daily newspaper. In cooperation with the Associated Press and Apple computers, he also oversaw the making of "Greece Today," one of the first direct online English-language desktop published tabloids in the Near East. He helped to introduce public access to the Internet in the east Aegean islands by establishing a number of Internet cafes there.
Peter also worked under Professor Spyridon Marinatos, the archaeologist who excavated the ruins of Akrotiri on the island of Thera (Santorini). He was the assistant of Spiros Tsavdaroglou, an administrative photographer for the National Archaeological Museum of Greece. He assisted the team that photographed the royal tomb of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, discovered in the 1980s by the archaeologist Manolis Andronicus. (From the author.)
Visit the book website.
Book Reviews
Now a fully illustrated book about Hitler’s various doubles has come out... it certainly is something I would recommend.
Fritz Springmeier, author of "Blood Lines of the Illuminati."
You've done a tremendous amount of research here to document a unique aspect of World War II history.
David Allen Rivera, author of "Final Warning: A History of the New World Order"
Discussion Questions
1. Was the brutal dictator of the 20th century the masked instrument of a double image delusion?
2. Did the Nazi Fuhrer use at least four doubles?
3. The world’s first donor artificial insemination was with the wife of a Quaker in the late 1800s. Who was the top-secret paternal donor?
4. Was the Quaker-son secret agent Aleister Crowley one of Adolf Hitler’s doubles?
5. Why did Walt Disney make use of Nazi scientists to build space technology after he visited South America?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937
Random House
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345534835
Summary
A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings
Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves embark upon a dangerous quest to reclaim the hoard of gold stolen from them by the evil dragon Smaug. Meanwhile...
Bilbo Baggins enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf, along with Thorin and his elves, arrive on his doorstep to suggest he would be the pefect companion. Thus a reluctant Bilbo is whisked away on a dangerous adventure, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum .
Along the way, the company faces trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and worse. But as they journey from the wonders of Rivendell to the terrors of Mirkwood and beyond, Bilbo will find that there is more to him than anyone—himself included—ever dreamed.
Author Bio
• Birth—January 3, 1892
• Where—Bloemfontein (Orange Free State), South Africa
• Raised—Sarehole, England, UK
• Death—September 2, 1973
• Where—Oxford, England
• Education—B.A. and M.A., Oxford University 1919
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on the 3rd January, 1892 at Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, but at the age of four he and his brother were taken back to England by their mother. After his father's death the family moved to Sarehole, on the south-eastern edge of Birmingham. Tolkien spent a happy childhood in the countryside and his sensibility to the rural landscape can clearly be seen in his writing and his pictures.
His mother died when he was only twelve and both he and his brother were made wards of the local priest and sent to King Edward's School, Birmingham, where Tolkien shine in his classical work. After completing a First in English Language and Literature at Oxford, Tolkien married Edith Bratt.
He was also commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the battle of the Somme. After the war, he obtained a post on the New English Dictionary and began to write the mythological and legendary cycle which he originally called "The Book of Lost Tales" but which eventually became known as The Silmarillion.
In 1920 Tolkien was appointed Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds which was the beginning of a distinguished academic career culminating with his election as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford.
Meanwhile Tolkien wrote for his children and told them the story of The Hobbit. It was his publisher, Stanley Unwin, who asked for a sequel to The Hobbit and gradually Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, a huge story that took twelve years to complete and which was not published until Tolkien was approaching retirement.
After retirement Tolkien and his wife lived near Oxford, but then moved to Bournemouth. Tolkien returned to Oxford after his wife's death in 1971. He died on 2 September 1973 leaving The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher. (From Barnes & Noble, courtesy of HarperCollins, UK.)
Book Reviews
A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible.... All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.
New York Times
The Hobbit belongs to a very small class of books which have nothing in common save that each admits us to a world of its own. Its place is with Alice and The Wind in the Willows.
Times Literary Supplement
One of the best loved characters in English fiction... a marvellous fantasy adventure
Daily Mail
Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls....[A]n exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax.
The Observer
Discussion Questions
(The following Questions have been adapted from the excellent Random House Teacher's Guide for The Hobbit)
Chapter 1
1. What does the word hobbit make you think of? (Note: The possibilities include rabbit, hobby, Babbit, habit, and hob. The word is probably best seen as a blend of rabbit and hob, an obsolete British word meaning “a rustic, peasant” or “sprite, elf.”) How does Bilbo resemble a rabbit in this chapter? When you finish the book, ask yourself if he still reminds you of one.
2. What is it about adventures that causes Bilbo’s Tookish and his competing Baggins sides to reemerge? Explain those two sides. Can you relate to Bilbo’s feelings of ambivalence? Do you think everyone has similar “Tookish” and “Baggins” sides to their personalities?
Chapter 2
3. Begin paying close attention to the way that Tolkien uses the presence and absence of the character of Gandalf to develop both the plot and the character of Bilbo Baggins. Why is it important that Gandalf is not present when the expedition meets the trolls?
4. Myths, legends, and folktales often reflect the values of a given culture. At this point in the story, what can you infer about the character traits that Tolkien considers positive? What character traits are viewed in a negative light? What is more important at this point: intelligence or physical strength?
Chapter 3
5. What is the difference between the ways Bilbo and the dwarves react to Rivendell? How does Elrond feel about the expedition, and what does he say about the dwarves’ love of gold and the wickedness of dragons? What values are important to the elves?
Chapter 4
6. What does Tolkien tell us about goblins? Why do you think he does not give specific details about their appearance? Discuss what you think goblins look like, and explain which details in the book give you that idea.
7. Discuss the role that music plays in the development of the different magical beings. Compare the songs sung by the dwarves, the elves, and the goblins. How do the songs differ, and what they reveal about the creatures that sing them?
8. Consider the following quote: "It is not unlikely that [goblins] invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once." What is Tolkien suggesting by linking his fantasy world to the reader’s modern world? What commentary is he making about the use of military technology?
Chapter 5
9. How are Bilbo and Gollum alike? Can you call Gollum evil? Discuss the concept that Gollum is the negative side of Bilbo with which Bilbo must come to terms before he can achieve his identity. What skills does Bilbo show in dealing with Gollum? Should Gollum be considered a sympathetic character?
Chapter 6
10. How would you describe the character traits of the dwarves? Why doesn’t Bilbo tell them about his ring at first? What do you think might have happened if he had told them?
11. At this point in the story, how much of an asset does Gandalf seem to be? Why doesn’t Gandalf do more to "save the day"? Are his powers limited, or is he intentionally refraining from using them? Why is it necessary to the story that he leave the expedition in the next chapter (7)?
Chapter 7
12. Discuss Beorn’s character. What are his virtues and vices? How does Bilbo come to understand him? In what way is Beorn similar to the beauty-and-the-beast archetype?
Chapter 8
13. Discuss Mirkwood. Is the forest evil? Consider the enchanted stream—what other objects in myth, legend and folktales does it recall? Why are those objects to be avoided...and why, despite warnings, do characters tend to fall victim to them? What symbolic purpose do you think these sorts of enchanted objects might serve?
14. After Gandalf leaves, who do you think should have become the leader of the expedition? What makes the expedition lose hope...and why is their despair unjustified?
15. Why does Bilbo tell the dwarves about his magic ring? What does his reluctance to do so tell us?
Chapter 9
16. Why does the Elvenking imprison the dwarves? Why won’t Thorin tell the Elvenking what his mission is? What characteristics does his refusal reveal about him? Do you think these characteristics are true for all dwarves or only for Thorin?
17. Is Bilbo a burglar now? What, if any, are his ethical dilemmas about stealing? How do the words burglar and thief differ in connotation? Is Bilbo’s type of burglary different from stealing?
18. The escape plan is completely Bilbo’s. How good is it? Can you think of an alternate plan? How much does it depend on luck? Does he deserve this luck?
19. At this point in the book do you think the dwarves have treated Bilbo fairly? Why do you think Bilbo is loyal to them? What does his loyalty reveal about his character?
Chapter 10
20. Does Thorin seem to be changing as he gets closer and closer to the mountain? How?
Chapter 11
21. In what way does Bilbo show that he has more spirit left than the dwarves?
Chapter 12
22. Describe the characteristics of dragons. What is the dragon spell, and why are dwarves so susceptible to it? (Note: In The Hobbit Tolkien reimagines the traditional motif of the cursed dragon-hoard. It's not so much that the curse is inherent as it is that treasure brings out the evil and foolish side of dwarves, elves, and men.)
Chapter 13
23. Why does Bilbo keep the Arkenstone? How does he justify his decision to withhold its discovery from Thorin? Does Bilbo have a right to the stone? What does the fact that Bilbo is willing to give up gold and jewels to have it suggest about the worth of the Arkenstone? Can you think of any traditional myths or parables about similar objects that Tolkien may be alluding to? What might be the symbolic importance of the stone?
Chapter 14
24. Characterize Bard and the Master. Who speaks more convincingly? What does their appearance suggest about them? Explain the reason for Bard’s pessimism. Who has more courage? Who displays more leadership? Do you believe that some people are natural leaders? Can this ability be inherited?
25. Why does the Elvenking set out from his halls for Esgaroth? What does this tell you about the value he places on treasure?
Chapter 15
26. From the very beginning, Bilbo has assumed that the climax of the adventure would be the recovery of the treasure. Then he realizes that Smaug must also be dealt with. Now he finds that even Smaug’s death does not end the adventure. What do you think Tolkien is trying to say about the purpose of trials and tribulations in a person’s life?
27. How has the treasure changed Thorin?
Chapter 16
28. Why does Thorin reject Roac’s advice?
29. Giving up the Arkenstone is Bilbo's noblest action. Why does he do it? What does it say about his values and ethics? Why does he return to the Mountain? Would you have returned to the dwarves or stayed with Bard and the elves?
Chapter 17
30. Consider the Elvenking’s statement: "Long will I tarry, ere I begin this war for gold." Do you think these are wise words? Is gold worth fighting over?
31. Trace Thorin’s moral degeneration. What causes him to change? In what ways does he end up being similar to Smaug? Why do you think he is so easily corrupted?
32. Before the arrival of the goblins and wargs, who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys" in the standoff around the mountain? How does your opinion change when the goblins arrive?
33. Which would be a greater tragedy: the killing of the armies of men, elves, and dwarves by the goblins, or a war between men, elves, and dwarves?
Chapter 18
34. "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage...and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." Discuss Bilbo’s character now that his adventure is completed. Why does he refuse the treasure? Why is he weary of his adventure? How has he proven himself to be a hero in spite of his lack of traditionally “heroic” attributes like strength and assertiveness?
35. Examine the final views we get of Thorin on his deathbed and in his tomb. Is his quest fulfilled? Why is his death necessary? What lesson does he learn? Does he deserve our respect or admiration? Is it right to bury him with the Arkenstone?
36. Examine in detail the various demands and offers made by Bard and the dwarves (and the elves). How does the final solution match what each party wants and deserves? What is the difference between Dain’s gift and Thorin’s promises?
Chapter 19
37. Gandalf exclaims to Bilbo: "Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were." In what way has Bilbo changed? (Don’t forget to include the ability and desire to make poetry.) What does he gain from his adventure? How has his attitude toward home altered from the beginning of the book? Is it necessary to leave a place before you can truly appreciate it? Can you relate Bilbo’s experience to your own life in any way?
38. At the end of the book, Gandalf makes the following comment: "You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?" If "mere luck" is not responsible for Bilbo’s success, what is?
39. Bilbo is pleased that he is "only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!" Why is this a comforting perspective? How does viewing oneself as a small part of a larger whole impact the way a person interacts with the world around him?
40. Why didn’t Tolkien just end the book after the battle? What is the purpose of devoting two chapters to Bilbo’s return? How do these chapters help develop the character and/or important themes?
(Questions adapted from Random House Publishers Teacher's Guide.)
Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series, 2)
Ransom Riggs, 2014
Quirk Publishing
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594747359
Summary
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was the surprise best seller of 2011—an unprecedented mix of YA fantasy and vintage photography that enthralled readers and critics alike.
This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.
Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages. (From the publisher.)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011) is the first book in the Peculiar Children Series. This book, Hollow City (2014), is the second, and Library of Souls (2016), is the third.
Tim Burton's film adaption of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was released in 2016. It stars Eva Green and Asa Butterfield.
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—in Florida, USA
• Education—Kenyon College; University of
Southern California
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Ransom Riggs grew up in Florida but now makes his home in the land of peculiar children—Los Angeles. Along the way he earned degrees from Kenyon College and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television, got married, and made some award-winning short films. He moonlights as a blogger and travel writer, and his series of travel essays, Strange Geographies, can be found at mentalfloss.com or via ransomriggs.com. This is his first novel. (From the publisher.)
In his words
I was born on a 200-year-old farm in rural maryland, where at the tender age of five I decided that I definitely wanted to be a farmer when I grew up, because being a farmer meant driving tractors. Then, partially as a result of my new ambition, my mom moved us far away to Florida, where there were relatively few farms but lots and lots of old people and not very much for kids to do.
In retrospect, it was precisely because there wasn’t a lot to do, and because the internet didn’t exist and cable TV was only like twelve channels back then, that I was forced to make my own fun and my own stories—and that’s what I’m still doing, only now I get paid for it. So thanks, sleepy Florida fishing village!
I grew up writing stories and making videos in the backyard with my friends. I knew I wanted to do one or both of those things in some professional capacity when I got older, but I didn’t know how. For three summers during high school I attended the University of Virginia’s Young Writer’s Workshop, and I still consider it one of the shaping experiences of my life. I met so many great, brilliant people, and it convinced me that it was possible to make a life for myself as a writer.
I also knew I wanted to make movies. So I compromised, and went to Kenyon College first to study English, then moved out to Los Angeles to go to film school at the University of Southern California. Looking back, that was a lot of time and money spent on school, but I don’t regret it at all Being part of those creative communities gave me lots of time to practice writing things and making movies before I had to go out and try to do either of those things professionally.
So now I do a lot of different things, which can make for a rambling and confused-sounding answer when I am asked, as I often am in work-obsessed Los Angeles, “So...what do you do? But I will attempt to answer this question, in list form:
• I write books First, a non-fiction book about Sherlock Holmes. Then a novel about peculiar children (2011). Then a book of found photographs with writing on them, coming out in 2012. I'm fairly certain there are more novels on the way. I can feel them clanking around half-formed in my brain.
• I make movies. I went to film school and made a lot of shorts there, then after I graduated I got jobs making short and some book trailers, too, like this and this. I also write screenplays and make the occasional video blog.
• I word-blog for mentalfloss.com. My favorite column is a series of photo-travel-essays called Strange Geographies. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Mr. Riggs certainly is a talented writer with an eye for strange and wonderful characters. Much like the first book, the author uses weird and mesmerizing photographs to compliment the story. However, throughout the book I had the strange feeling that the author might actually be bending the story to compliment the photographs and not the other way around, something I did not notice in the first installment
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
[F]ans will be thrilled to know that the sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is as hauntingly sinister is the first and is unequivocally worth the wait. It’s a rare sequel that improves on the series’ beginning... A must-read!
Romance Times Book Reviews
With evil wights and murderous hollowgasts in hot pursuit—and only days to save their beloved Miss Peregrine from permanently becoming a bird—Jacob and his nine young (in body, if not age) companions fling themselves through time loops to Blitz-torn London.... Less a straightforward horrorfest than a tasty adventure for any reader with an appetite for the…peculiar.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Hollow Kingdom
Kira Jane Buxton, 2019
Grand Central Publishing
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781538745823
Summary
S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos®.
But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right.
Big Jim's tried-and-true remedies—from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of his loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis—fail to cure his debilitating malady.
S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he suddenly discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of Seattle's dangerous new predators.
Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV.
What could possibly go wrong? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Kira Jane Buxton's writing has appeared in the New York Times, NewYorker.com, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, Huffington Post, and more. She calls the tropical utopia of Seattle, Washington, home and spends her time with three cats, a dog, two crows, a charm of hummingbirds, and a husband. (From the publishers.)
Book Reviews
Buxton takes a joyfully original approach to apocalyptic fiction…. S.T. is a brilliant narrator, partially because he has reverence for human things like Cheetos and baked goods…, but also because he has only half a grasp on what certain human things mean…. But the… deep ache he feels for Big Jim and the life he used to lead read as incredibly sincere…. S.T. ultimately gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, we still have a chance to turn things around before Nature is so fed up that she really does set her sights on destroying us for good.
NPR
Pick up this delightfully weird book for a change from the usual—we promise it's like nothing you've read before.
Good Housekeeping
Literary debuts don't get much more high-concept than this.
Entertainment Weekly
[F]resh, alarming…hilarious… [A]nimals both tame and wild share moving ruminations on the end of humanity… and the masterful blend of humorous and tragic make this novel an eloquent… exploration of survival during an unthinkable cataclysm.
Publishers Weekly
Though some aspects of the plot, including a divinatory octopus, present as colorless, the overall fresh, quirky tone and content will interest animal lovers and fans of… sardonic wit. —Marian Mays, Washington Talking Book & Braille Lib., Seattle
Library Journal
Buxton's quirky ideas and compelling nonhuman characters will satisfy literary fiction and zombie genre enthusiasts alike who are looking for something beguilingly different.
Booklist
In lieu of giving her lively animal characters a rich narrative arc, the author focuses too heavily on not-so-subtle morality tales…. A heavy-handed zombie apocalypse-meets-nature documentary meant to inspire humans to do better, but it loses its way.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
A Hologram for the King
Dave Eggers, 2012
McSweeney's Publishing
328 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307947512
Summary
In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great.
In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds.
This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment—and a moving story of how we got here. (From the publisher.)
See the 2015 film version with Tom Hanks.
Listen to our Movies Meet Book Club Podcast as Hollister and O'Toole discuss the movie and book.
Author Bio
• Birth—March 12, 1970
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Illinois
• Currently—lives in San Francisco, California
Dave Eggers is the author of five books, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity!, How We Are Hungry, What Is the What, and A Hologram for the King. He is the editor of McSweeney’s, a quarterly magazine and book-publishing company, and is cofounder of 826 Valencia, a network of nonprofit writing and tutoring centers for young people. His interest in oral history led to his 2004 cofounding of Voice of Witness, a nonprofit series of books that use oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. As a journalist, his work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Believer. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and daughter. (From the publisher.)
More
Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts, grew up in suburban Lake Forest (where he was a high-school classmate of the actor Vince Vaughn), and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He lives in San Francisco and is married to the writer Vendela Vida. In October 2005, Vendela gave birth to a daughter, October Adelaide Eggers Vida.
Eggers's brother Bill is a researcher who has worked for several conservative think tanks, doing research on privatization. His sister, Beth, claimed that Eggers grossly understated her role in raising their brother Toph and made use of her journals in writing A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius without compensating her. She later recanted her claims in a posting on her brother's own website McSweeney's Internet Tendency, referring to the incident as "a really terrible LaToya Jackson moment". On March 1, 2002, the New York Post reported that Beth, then a lawyer in Modesto, California, had committed suicide. Eggers briefly spoke about his sister's death during a 2002 fan interview for McSweeney's.
Eggers was one of three 2008 TED Prize recipients. His TED Prize wish: for community members to personally engage with local public schools.
Eggers began writing as a Salon.com editor and founded Might magazine, while also writing a comic strip called Smarter Feller (originally Swell, then Smart Feller) for SF Weekly. His first book was a memoir (with fictional elements), A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000). It focuses on the author's struggle to raise his younger brother in San Francisco following the sudden deaths of their parents. The book quickly became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. The memoir was praised for its originality, idiosyncratic self-referencing, and for several innovative stylistic elements. Early printings of the 2001 trade-paperback edition were published with a lengthy, apologetic postscript entitled "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making."
In 2002, Eggers published his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity, a story about a frustrating attempt to give away money to deserving people while haphazardly traveling the globe. An expanded and revised version was released as Sacrament in 2003 and retitled You Shall Know Our Velocity! for its Vintage imprint distribution. He has since published a collection of short stories, How We Are Hungry, and three politically-themed serials for Salon.com. In November 2005, Eggers published Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated, compiling the book of interviews with exonerees once sentenced to death. The book was compiled with Lola Vollen, "a physician specializing in the aftermath of large-scale human rights abuses" and "a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of International Studies and a practicing clinician." Novelist Scott Turow wrote the introduction to Surviving Justice. Eggers's most recent novel, What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (McSweeney's, 2006), was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Eggers is also the editor of the Best American Nonrequired Reading series, an annual anthology of short stories, essays, journalism, satire, and alternative comics.
Eggers is the founder of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house. McSweeney's produces a quarterly literary journal, McSweeney's, first published in 1998; a monthly journal, The Believer, which debuted in 2003 and is edited by wife Vida; and, beginning in 2005, a quarterly DVD magazine, Wholphin. Other works include The Future Dictionary of America, Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans, and the "Dr. and Mr. Haggis-On-Whey" children's books of literary nonsense, which Eggers writes with his younger brother. Ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Eggers wrote an essay about the US national team and soccer in the United States for The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, a book published with aid of the journal Granta, that contained essays about each competing team in the tournament.
Eggers currently teaches writing in San Francisco at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit tutoring center and writing school for children that he cofounded in 2002. Eggers has recruited volunteers to operate similar programs in Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, all under the auspices of the nonprofit organization 826 National. In 2006, he appeared at a series of fundraising events, dubbed the Revenge of the Book–Eaters tour, to support these programs. The Chicago show, at the Park West theatre, featured Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. Other performers on the tour included Sufjan Stevens, Jon Stewart and David Byrne. In September 2007, the Heinz Foundations awarded Eggers a $250,000 Heinz award given to recognize "extraordinary achievements by individuals". The award will be used to fund some of the 826 Valencia writing centers. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
In Mr. Eggers's telling, the 54-year-old Alan is not just another hapless loser undergoing a midlife crisis. Rather, his sad-funny-dreamlike story unfolds to become an allegory about the frustrations of middle-class America, about the woes unemployed workers and sidelined entrepreneurs have experienced in a newly globalized world.... Thanks to Mr. Eggers's uncommon ability to access his characters' emotions and channel their every mood, we are instantly immersed in Alan's story.... A comic but deeply affecting tale about one man's travails that also provides a bright, digital snapshot of our times.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
A clear, supremely readable parable of America in the global economy that is haunting, beautifully shaped and sad.... Eggers's inhabiting of the terms and tics of a distinctly American consciousness is as remarkable as, in earlier books, his channeling of Sudanese and Syrian sensibilitie.... A Hologram for the King is, among other things, an anguished investigation into how and where American self-confidence got lost and—in the central word another lonely expat uses for Alan—"defeated."
Pico Iyer - New York Times Book Review
A diverting, well-written novel about a middle-aged American dreamer, joined to a critique of how the American dream has been subverted by outsourcing our know-how and manufacturing to third-world nations.
Michael Dirda - Washington Post
Eggers understands the pressures of American downward-mobility, and in the protagonist of his novel, Alan Clay, has created an Everyman, a post-modern Willy Loman.... The novel operates on a grand and global scale, but it also is intimate.
Elizabeth Taylor - Chicago Tribune
An extraordinary work of timely and provocative themes.... This novel reminds us that above all, Eggers is a writer of books, and a writer of the highest order.... An outstanding achievement in Eggers's already impressive career, and an essential read.
Carmela Ciuraru - San Francisco Chronicle
Dave Eggers is a prince among men when it comes to writing deeply felt, socially conscious books that meld reportage with fiction. While A Hologram for the King is fiction...it’s a strike against the current state of global economic injustice."
Elissa Schappell - Vanity Fair
Eggers's first unabashedly fictional, original novel in some time nonetheless grounds itself...firmly in the real world. .... Eggers strikes fresh and genuine notes...in Alan's burgeoning friendship with the young Saudi man, Yousef, assigned to be his driver. Both Eggers's fans and those previously resistant to his work will find a spare but moving elegy for the American century.
Publishers Weekly
Eggers has matured greatly as a novelist since Velocity: Where that novel was gassy and knotted, this one has crisp sentences and a solid structure.... If anything, the novel's flaws seem to be products of too much tightening.... Even so, Eggers' fiction has evolved in the past decade. This book is firm proof that that social concerns can make for resonant storytelling.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available. In the meantime use these LitLovers talking points to kick off a discussion for A Hologram for the King...then take off on your own:
1. What do you think of Alan Clay? What kind of man is he? Consider his last name "Clay." Why might Dave Eggers have given him such a name? Is Alan a sympathetic, likable character? Do you feel sorry for him, admire him? Do you find him weak or irritating at times?
2. How would you describe the predicament Alan finds himself in, both at home and in Saudi Arabia? What are the stresses in his life—and in what way might he be a symbolic stand-in for middle-aged, middle-class Americans?
3. What do you think of the conversation Alan has on the plane over to Saudi Arabia? Do you agree with his seatmate—that America has seen its best days pass? Is the American Dream over, with "the dreaming being done" elsewhere—in China, Dubai, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi?
4. The concept of "hollow" pervades this novel, most obviously in the title, which refers to the use of a hologram replacement for human presence. Hanne considers Alan himself "hollow" or defeated. Where else / how else does hollowness show up...and why is the concept so significant? What is Eggers suggesting about Western and Saudi society?
5. What do you think of Saudi Arabian society—talk about the disparities between public values and private action. Were you surprised?
6. Throughout the novel, Alan tries to write to his daughter, but he but never follows through. What is it that he's trying to convey to her?
7. Alan cuts into the growth at the back of his neck. Why? He thinks, at one point, that scars are evidence of living. What does he mean?
8. Why is Alan's relationship with his father so fraught with anger (on his father's part) and disappointment (on Alan's)? Is Ron correct in his assessment of what is happening to the U.S.—they're building our bridges in China, for God's sake!—and his son's role in it? Or is he overwrought and caught up in defeatism?
9. What was Alan's role with regards to the Schwinn bicycle? Did he have a choice other than moving operations over to China? Does any U.S. company have a choice? Or could things be different?
10. SPOILER ALERT: What do you think of the novel's ending, the futility of the wait in the tent and the fact that the contract went to a Chinese company? What about Alan's decision to remain in Saudi Arabia? Why does he want to stay?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Home
Toni Morrison, 2012
Knopf Doubleday
160 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307594167
Summary
America’s most celebrated novelist, Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison extends her profound take on our history with this twentieth-century tale of redemption: a taut and tortured story about one man’s desperate search for himself in a world disfigured by war.
Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he’s hated all his life.
As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again. A deeply moving novel about an apparently defeated man finding his manhood—and his home. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Aka—Chloe Anthony Wofford
• Birth—February 18, 1931
• Where—Lorain, Ohio, USA
• Education—B.A., Howard University; M.A., Cornell
University
• Awards—Nobel Prize, 1993, National Book Critics' Circle
Award, 1977; Pulitzer Prize, 1988.
• Currently—lives in Princeton, NJ and New York, NY
With her incredible string of lyrical, imaginative, and adventurous modern classics Toni Morrison lays claim to being one of America's best novelists. Race issues are at the heart of many of Morrison's most enduring novels, from the ways that white concepts of beauty affect a girl's self image in The Bluest Eye to themes of segregation in Sulu and slavery in her signature work Beloved. Through it all, Morrison relates her tales with lyrical eloquence and spellbinding mystery.
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, Morrison's unique approach to writing stems from a childhood spent steeped in folklore and mythology. Her family reveled in sharing these often tales, and their commingling of the fantastic and the natural would become a key element in her work when she began penning original tales of her own.
The other majorly influential factor in her writing was the racism she experienced firsthand in, as Jet magazine described it, the "mixed and sometimes hostile neighborhood" of Lorain, Ohio. When Morrison was only a toddler, her home was set afire by racists while her family was still inside of it. During times such as these, she found strength in her father, who instilled in her a great sense of dignity. This pride in her cultural background would heavily influence her debut novel.
In The Bluest Eye, an eleven-year old black girl named Pecola prays every night for blue eyes, seeing them as the epitome of feminine beauty. She believes these eyes, symbolizing commonly held white concepts of attractiveness, would put an end to her familial woes, an end to her father's excessive drinking and her brother's meandering. They would give her self-esteem and purpose. The Bluest Eye is the first of Toni Morrison's cries for racial pride and it is an auspicious debut told with an eerie poeticism.
Morrison next tackled segregation in Sulu, which chronicles the friendship between two women who, much like the author, grew up in a small, segregated village in Ohio. Song of Solomon followed. Arguably her first bona fide classic and certainly her most lyrical work, Song of Solomon breathed with the mythology of Morrison's youth, a veritable modern folktale pivoting on an eccentric whimsically named Milkman Dead who spends his life trying to fly. This is one of Morrison's most breathtaking, most accomplished and fully dimensional novels, a story of powerful convictions told in an unmistakably original manner.
In Song of Solomon, Morrison created a distinct world where the supernatural commingles comfortably with the mundane, a setting that would reappear in her masterpiece, Beloved. Beloved is a ghost story quite unlike any other, a tale of guilt and love and the horrendous legacy of slavery. Taking place not long after the end of the Civil War, Beloved finds Sethe, a former slave, being haunted by the daughter she murdered to save the child from being sold into slavery. It is a gut wrenching story that is buoyed by its fantastical plot device and the sheer beauty of Morrison's prose.
Beloved so moved Morrison's literary peers that forty-eight of them signed an open letter published in the New York Times demanding she be recognizing for this major effort. Subsequently, the book won her a Pulitzer Prize. A year after publishing her next novel Jazz in 1992, she would become the very first African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Towards the end of the century, Morrison's work became increasingly eclectic. She not only published another finely crafted, incendiary novel in Paradise, which systematically tracks the genesis of an act of mob violence, but she also published her first children's book The Big Box. In 2003, she published Love, her first novel in five years, a complex meditation on family and the way one man fuels the obsessions of several women. The following year she assembled a collection of photographs of school children taken during the era of segregation. What makes Remember: The Journey to School Integration so particularly haunting is that Morrison chose to compose dialogue imagining what the subjects of each photo may have been thinking. In 2008, Morrison published A Mercy.
That imagination, that willingness to take chances, to examine history through a fresh perspective, is such an integral part of Morrison's craft. She is as vital as any contemporary artist, and her stories may focus on the black American experience, but the eloquence, imaginativeness, and meaningfulness of her writing leaps high over any racial boundaries.
Extras
• Chloe Anthony Wofford chose to publish her first novel under the name Toni Morrison because she believed that Toni was easier to pronounce than Chloe. Morrison later regretted assuming the nom de plume.
• In 1986, the first production of Morrison's sole play Dreaming Emmett was staged. The play was based on the story of Emmett Till, a black teen murdered by racists in 1955.
• Morrison's prestigious status is not limited to her revered novels or her multitude of awards. She also holds a chair at Princeton University. (Author bio from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
This haunting, slender novel is a kind of tiny Rosetta Stone to Toni Morrison's entire oeuvre…encapsulat[ing] all the themes that have fueled her fiction…In these pages Ms. Morrison eschews the fierce Faulknerian prose and García Marquez-like flights of surrealism that animated some of her earlier novels, adopting a new, pared-down style that enables her to map the day-to-day lives of her characters with lyrical precision.... Ms. Morrison has found a new, angular voice and straight-ahead storytelling style that showcase her knowledge of her characters, and the ways in which violence and passion and regret are braided through their lives, the ways in which love and duty can redeem a blighted past.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
Toni Morrison doesn’t have to prove anything anymore, and there’s artistic freedom in that calm. Her new novel, Home, is a surprisingly unpretentious story from America’s only living Nobel laureate in literature.... This scarily quiet tale packs all the thundering themes Morrison has explored before. She’s never been more concise, though, and that restraint demonstrates the full range of her power.... Home is unusual, not only in that it features a male protagonist but that it’s so fiercely focused on the problem of manhood.... Are acts of violence essentially masculine, or are they an abdication of manliness? Is it possible, the novel finally asks, to consider the manhood implicit in sacrifice, in laying down one’s life? What [Frank] Money eventually does to help his sister and to quiet his demons is just as surprising and quietly profound as everything else in this novel. Despite all the old horrors that Morrison faces in these pages with weary recognition, Home is a daringly hopeful story about the possibility of healing—or at least surviving in a shadow of peace.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison is known for novels in which female protagonists struggle to wrest control of their lives from an establishment bent on their destruction. Home, by contrast, tells the story of Korean War vet Frank Money, who returns from the battlefield plagued by visions of his friends’ deaths and a disturbing episode that cuts at the roots of his sexual and moral identity. . . . Salvation awaits, however, in his tiny Georgia hometown.
Tim McDonnell - Mother Jones
Profound.... Morrison’s portrayal of Frank is vivid and intimate, her portraits of the women in his life equally masterful. Its brevity, stark prose, and small cast of characters notwithstanding, this story of a man struggling to reclaim his roots and his manhood is enormously powerful.
Stephan Lee - O Magazine
Home’s slim spine belies a fertile narrative imbued with and embellished by Morrison’s visionary scope and poetic majesty. These traits expand on her long exploration of the suffering and striving born of slavery and segregation that are unique to the history of blacks in America. Conjoined in all her stories and richly illumined are the culture, traditions, talents, and triumphs of African-Americans as well.
Lisa Shea - Elle
In Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winner Morrison’s immaculate new novel (after A Mercy), Frank Money returns from the horrors of the Korean War to an America that’s just as poor and just as racist as the country he fled. Frank’s only remaining connection to home is his troubled younger sister, Cee, “the first person ever took responsibility for,” but he doesn’t know where she is. In the opening pages of the book, he receives a letter from a friend of Cee’s stating, “Come fast. She be dead if you tarry.” Thus begins his quest to save his sister—and to find peace in a town he loathed as a child: Lotus, Ga., the “worst place in the world, worse than any battlefield.” Told in alternating third- and first-person narration, with Frank advising and, from time to time, correcting the person writing down his life story, the novel’s opening scene describes horses mating, “heir raised hooves crashing and striking, their manes tossing back from wild white eyes,” as one field over, the bodies of African-American men who were forced to fight to the death are buried: “...whatever you think and whatever you write down, know this: I really forgot about the burial. I only remembered the horses. They were so beautiful. So brutal.” Beautiful, brutal, as is Morrison’s perfect prose.
Publishers Weekly
Frank Money was damaged emotionally as well as physically while fighting in Korea, then returns home to an America as racist as ever. What saves him from utter despair is the need to rescue his equally damaged sister and bring her back to their small Georgia town, a place he has always despised. But thinking over the past both near (the war) and far (his childhood) allows him to rediscover his sense of purpose. At 160 pages, this is not a big brass band of a novel but a chamber work, effectively telescoping Morrison's passion and lush language.
Library Journal
(Starrred review) With the economical presentation of a short story, the rhythms and cadences of a poem, and the total embrace and resonance of a novel, Morrison, one of our national literary treasures, continues to marshal her considerable talents to draw a deeply moving narrative and draw in a wide range of appreciative readers...bound to be a big hit. —Brad Hooper
Booklist
A deceptively rich and cumulatively powerful novel.... A black soldier returns from the Korean War, where he faces a rocky re-entry, succumbing to alcoholism and suffering from what would subsequently be termed PTSD. Yet perhaps, as someone tells him, his major problem is the culture to which he returns: "An integrated army is integrated misery. You all go fight, come back, they treat you like dogs. Change that. They treat dogs better." Ultimately, the latest from the Nobel Prize–winning novelist has something more subtle and shattering to offer than such social polemics.... A novel that illuminates truths that its characters may not be capable of articulating.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why has Toni Morrison chosen Home for her title? In what ways is the novel about both leaving home and coming home? What does home mean for Frank, for Cee, for Lenore, for Lily?
2. The race of the characters is not specified in the novel. How does Morrison make clear which characters are black and which are white? Why might she have chosen not to identify characters explicitly by their race?
3. What is the effect of alternating between Frank’s first-person (italicized) narration and the third-person omniscient narration through which most of the story is told? What is the implied relationship between Frank and the narrator?
4. Talking about the horrors of war in Korea, Frank tells the reader: “You can’t imagine it because you weren’t there” [p. 93]. Does the reader succeed in imagining it even though he or she was not there? How close to another’s experience, even those radically unlike our own, can imagination take us?
5. How has Frank’s war experience affected him? What symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder does he exhibit? In what ways does he suffer from survivor guilt?
6. In what sense can Home be understood as Frank’s confession?
7. In what very concrete ways does Cee’s lack of education hurt her? How might she have been saved from infertility had she understood the implication of the books about eugenics in Dr. Beau’s office?
8. Why do the women who heal Cee have such contempt for “the medical industry”? [p. 122]. In what ways are Frank and Cee both victims of a medical system that puts its own aims above the heath of its patients? Does Home offer an implicit critique of our own health-care system?
9. What methods do Miss Ethel Fordham and the other women use to nurse Cee back to health? Why do they feel Frank’s male energy might hinder the healing process? What larger point is Morrison making about the difference between feminine and masculine, or earth-based and industrial, ways of treating illness?
10. Frank doesn’t know “what took place during those weeks at Miss Ethel’s house surrounded by those women with seen-it-all eyes,” only that they “delivered unto him a Cee who would never again need his hand over her eyes or his arms to stop her murmuring bones” [p. 128]. In what ways is Cee transformed by the treatment, and the wise counsel, that Miss Ethel gives her?
11. Both Frank and Cee were eager to leave Lotus, Georgia, and never return. Why do they find it so comforting when they do go back? What is it about the place and people that feels to Frank “both fresh and ancient, safe and demanding” [p. 132] and makes Cee declare that this is where she belongs?
12. How have Miss Ethel and the other women in her community learned not just to live with but to rise above the limitations imposed on them? What moral code do they live by?
13. Why does Frank decide to give a proper burial to the man killed for sport—and whose undignified burial Frank and Cee witnessed as children—at the end of the novel? Why would this act be emotionally important for him? Why has Morrison structured the novel so that the end mirrors the beginning?
14. The flowering lotus is a plant of extraordinary beauty, but it is rooted in the muck at the bottom of ponds. In what ways is the fictional town of lotus, Georgia, like a lotus plant?
15. Why is it important that Frank does not resort to violence against Dr. Beau? In what ways has Frank been changed by the experiences he undergoes in the novel?
16. Much has been written about racism in America. What does Home add to our understanding of the suffering blacks endured during the late 1940s and early ‘50s? What is most surprising, and distressing, about the story Morrison tells?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Home
Marilynne Robinson, 2008
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312428549
Summary
Winner, 2009 Orange Prize
Hundreds of thousands were enthralled by the luminous voice of John Ames in Gilead, Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Home is an entirely independent, deeply affecting novel that takes place concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames’s closest friend. Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father.
Soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with tormenting trouble and pain. Jack is one of the great characters in recent literature. A bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, he is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton’s most beloved child.
Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake. Home is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith. It is Robinson’s greatest work, an unforgettable embodiment of the deepest and most universal emotions. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 26, 1943
• Where—Sandpoint, Idaho, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University
• Awards—PEN/Hemingway Award;National Book Critics Circle Award; Pulitzer Prize; Orange Prize
• Currently—Iowa City, Iowa
Marilynne Robinson was born and raised in Idaho, where her family has lived for several generations. She recieved a B.A. from Brown University in 1966 and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Washington in 1977.
Housekeeping, her first novel, was published in 1981 and won the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction and the American Academy and Institute's Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award. Mother Country, an examination of Great Britain's role in radioactive environmental pollution, was published in 1989. Robinson published Gilead in 2004 and Home in 2008. Home won the 2009 Orange Prize. She lives in Iowa City, Iowa, with her family. (From the publisher.)
More
For someone who has labored long in the literary vineyard, Marilynne Robinson has produced a remarkably slim oeuvre. However, in this case, quality clearly trumps quantity. Her 1980 debut, Housekeeping, snagged the PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Twenty-four years later, her follow-up novel, Gilead, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Ambassador Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. And in between, her controversial extended essay Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution (1989) was shortlisted for the National Book Award.
Robinson is far from indolent. She teaches at several colleges and has written several articles for Harper's, Paris Review, the New York Times Book Review, and other publications. Still, one wonders—especially in the face of her great critical acclaim—why she hasn't produced more full-length works. When asked about these extended periods of literary dormancy, Robinson told Barnes & Noble.com, "I feel as if I have to locate my own thinking landscape... I have to do that by reading—basically trying to get outside the set of assumptions that sometimes seems so small or inappropriate to me." What that entails is working through various ideas that often don't develop because, as she says, "I couldn't love them."
Still, occasionally Robinson is able to salvage something important from the detritus—for example, Gilead's central character, Reverend John Ames. "I was just working on a piece of fiction that I had been fiddling with," Robinson explains. "There was a character whom I intended as a minor character... he was a minister, and he had written a little poem, and he transformed himself, and he became quite different—he became the narrator. I suddenly knew a great deal about him that was very different from what I assumed when I created him as a character in the first place."
This tendency of Robinson's to regard her characters as living, thinking beings may help to explain why her fictional output is so small. While some authors feel a deep compulsion to write daily, approaching writing as a job, Robinson depends on inspiration which often comes from the characters themselves. She explains, "I have to have a narrator whose voice tells me what to do—whose voice tells me how to write the novel."
As if to prove her point, in 2008, Robinson crafted the luminous novel Home around secondary characters from Gilead: John Ames's closest friend, Reverend Robert Boughton, his daughter Glory, and his reprobate son Jack. Paying Robinson the ultimate compliment, Kirkus Reviews declared that the novel "[c]omes astonishingly close to matching its amazing predecessor in beauty and power."
However, the deeply spiritual Robinson is motivated by a more personal directive than the desire for critical praise or bestsellerdom. Like the writing of Willa Cather—or, more contemporaneously, Annie Dillard—her novels are suffused with themes of faith, atonement, and redemption. She equates writing to prayer because "it's exploratory and you engage in it in the hope of having another perspective or seeing beyond what is initially obvious or apparent to you." To this sentiment, Robinson's many devoted fans can only add: Amen.
Extras
• Robinson doesn't just address religion in her writing. She serves as a deacon at the Congregational Church to which she belongs.
• One might think that winning a Pulitzer Prize could easily go to a writer's head, but Robinson continues to approach her work with surprising humility. In fact, her advice to aspiring writers is to always "assume your readers are smarter than you are."
• Robinson is no stranger to controversy. Mother Country, her indictment of the destruction of the environment and those who feign to protect it, has raised the ire of Greenpeace, which attempted to sue her British publisher for libel. (Author bio from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Home and Gilead are marvelous novels about family, friendship and aging. But they are great novels—or perhaps two installments in a single, as yet unfinished great novel—about race and religion in American life…[Home] is a book unsparing in its acknowledgment of sin and unstinting in its belief in the possibility of grace. It is at once hard and forgiving, bitter and joyful, fanatical and serene. It is a wild, eccentric, radical work of literature that grows out of the broadest, most fertile, most familiar native literary tradition. What a strange old book it is.
A.O. Scott - New York Times
Writing one novel about a minister's family is asking for trouble; writing a second seems downright unrepentant, the kind of misjudgment that could land a reputable literary author in a Christian bookstore or with a cozy series on the BBC. But Robinson, who teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is unlikely to suffer either fate; her books are toxic to sentimentality. Even more than their stylistic beauty, what's miraculous about Gilead and Home is their explicit focus on spiritual affliction, discussed in the hard terms of Protestant theology. Robinson uses the words "grace," "salvation" and "prayer" frequently and without embarrassment and without drifting into the gassy lingo of ecumenical spirituality. Her characters cower in the shadow of perdition.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
(Starred Review) Robinson's beautiful new novel, a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize–winning Gilead, is an elegant variation on the parable of the prodigal son's return. The son is Jack Boughton, one of the eight children of Robert Boughton, the former Gilead, Iowa, pastor, who now, in 1957, is a widowed and dying man. Jack returns home shortly after his sister, 38-year-old Glory, moves in to nurse their father, and it is through Glory's eyes that we see Jack's drama unfold. When Glory last laid eyes on Jack, she was 16, and he was leaving Gilead with a reputation as a thief and a scoundrel, having just gotten an underage girl pregnant. By his account, he'd since lived as a vagrant, drunk and jailbird until he fell in with a woman named Della in St. Louis. By degrees, Jack and Glory bond while taking care of their father, but when Jack's letters to Della are returned unopened, Glory has to deal with Jack's relapse into bad habits and the effect it has on their father. In giving an ancient drama of grace and perdition such a strong domestic setup, Robinson stakes a fierce claim to a divine recognition behind the rituals of home.
Publishers Weekly
This follow-up to Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead (2004) is a concurrent narrative rather than a sequel, as if the earlier novel's journal entries had concluded with "Meanwhile...." The plot here concerns the large family of elderly Rev. Robert Broughton, specifically two of his adult children, who have returned to Iowa temporarily. Youngest sister Glory keeps house for her dying father, but her efforts are eclipsed by the reappearance of bad-boy favorite child Jack Ames Broughton two decades after a scandalous departure. Pain-filled and mysterious, Jack reengages uncomfortably with relations and neighbors, forcing them to confront perhaps unbearable truths about themselves and society. In Robinson's characteristically calm, measured language, the author creates three-dimensional characters that move believably within beautifully realized physical and psychological space as they confront (and challenge the reader with) deeply serious questions of faith, moral responsibility, and the racial divide in America. Fans of Gilead will be grateful for this expansion of the story—and for its closing hint of a possible return to the extended Ames/Boughton families, whose two small sons will carry their complicated heritage into the cultural revolutions of the 1960s. Highly recommended for all fiction collections.
Starr E. Smith - Library Journal
Home takes its place alongside Robinson's 2004 novel Gilead. Less its sequel than its counterpart, it tells the concurrent story, set in 1956, of Reverend Robert Boughton, best friend to Gilead's narrator, John Ames. Where Gilead was a self-reckoning in the guise of an epistolary novel — it takes the form of a letter to Ames's young son — Home is a structurally more traditional, simmering novel about the fragility, and endurance, of familial bonds. Here, Ames recedes into the background as Robinson shifts her focus to Boughton's wayward son Jack, who has returned home after a 20-year absence just as his father's health begins to fall into an irreparable decline. Jack will be familiar to readers of Gilead; in that novel, he played Ames's moral foil, the man whose presence reveals the blind spots in the reverend's seemingly boundless capacity for grace. Also returned to the family homestead is Jack's younger sister Glory, who has come to nurse the ailing Boughton and, more painfully, to seek refuge from a failed engagement. The coincidence of their homecomings gives rise to an unlikely friendship between the two siblings; Glory, with her preternatural sensitivity, proves the only person able to draw out Jack, whose guarded manner and sardonic evasions do little to conceal the ravages of his alcoholism and troubled childhood.
Barnes & Noble
Discussion Questions
1. What does "home" mean to Robert Boughton and his children? What does the Boughton house signify to his family? With whom do they feel most at home?
2. How does Glory's opinion of Jack change throughout the novel? What enables them to trust each other? In what ways is that trust strained? How does their relationship compare to yours with your siblings?
3. How is the Boughton household affected by the presence of a television set? How does this reflect a shift that took place in many households throughout America in the 1950s? Were you surprised by Robert Boughton's comments about African Americans, and by his reaction to the televised race riots?
4. Why do you think Robert loves Jack best, despite Jack's shortcomings? What is your understanding of Jack's wayward behavior? How would you have responded to his theological questions regarding redemption?
5. Discuss the friendship between John Ames and Robert Boughton. What has sustained it for so many years? How did they nurture each other's intellectual lives, approaching life from Congregationalist and Presbyterian perspectives?
6. What did Glory's mother teach her about the role of women? How was the Boughton family affected by the death of its matriarch?
7. How do the Boughtons view prosperity and charity? What is reflected in the way Glory handles the household finances, with leftover money stored in the piano bench? What is the nature of Jack's interest in Marxism? What is demonstrated in the incident of the book on England's working classes (the stolen library volume that Robert Boughton considered dull)?
8. How do the themes of deception and integrity play out in the novel? Are all of the characters honest with themselves? Which secrets, in the novel and in life, are justified?
9. What does Jack do with the memory of his out-of-wedlock daughter? Does his father have an accurate understanding of that chapter in Jack's life?
10. How are Glory, Jack, and Robert affected by Teddy's visit? What accounts for the "anxiety, and relief, and resentment" Glory feels regarding Teddy's arrival (p. 253)?
11. Discuss Ames's provocative sermon, which Jack paraphrases as a discussion of "the disgraceful abandonment of children by their fathers" (p. 206) based on the narrative of Hagar and Ishmael. To what degree are parents responsible for the actions of their children, and vice versa?
12. What aspects of romantic love are reflected in Home? How does Glory cope with her ill-fated engagement? Is Jack very different from Glory's fiancé? What do the Boughtons think of John Ames's marriage to Lila?
13. How did you react to Della's arrival? What legacy and memories will define her son? What common ground did Jack and Della share, fostering love?
14. Hymns provide a meaningful background throughout the novel. What do their words and melodies convey?
15. In terms of religion, what beliefs do Glory, Jack, and Robert agree upon? What do they seek to know about God and the nature of humanity? What answers do they find?
16. What distinctions did you detect between the way John Ames described Jack in Gilead and the portrayal of Jack in Home? What are the similarities and differences between the Ames and Boughton households? What accounts for the fact that families can inhabit nearly identical milieux but experience life in profoundly different ways?
17. Do towns like Gilead still exist? Are pastors like Ames and Boughton common in contemporary America?
18. Discuss the homecomings that have made a significant impact on your life. How much forgiveness has been necessary across the generations in your family?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Home Fire
Kamila Shamsie, 2017
Penguin Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735217683
Summary
Longlisted - 2017 Man Booker Prize
The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred.
But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.
Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 13, 1973
• Where—Karachi, Pakistan
• Education—B.A., Hamilton College; M.F.A., University of Massachusetts
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in London, England
Kamila Naheed Shamsie is a Pakistani-British novelist, who is the author of seven books. Born in Karachi, Shamsie comes by writing naturally: she is the daughter of journalist and editor Muneeza Shamsie, the niece of Indian novelist Attia Hosain, and the granddaughter of author Begum Jahanara Habibullah, who wrote of her life under the British Rah.
Though raised in Karachi, Shamsie left her home country, heading to the U.S. for college. She earned a BA from Hamilton College, as well as an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, both degrees in creative writing. In 2007, Shamsie moved to London and now has dual citizenship with the UK and Pakistan. At first traveling back and forth between the two countries, she now lives primarily in London.
Writing and awards
Shamsie began her career while still in college, writing her first novel In The City by the Sea. The novel was published in 1998 when she was only 25, but even at that age her talent attracted attention. The debut was shortlisted for the UK's prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and in 1999, it received the Prime Minister's Award for Literature in Pakistan.
She followed her first novel with Salt and Saffron in 2000, a book which earned her still more recognition: she was named one of Orange's "21 Writers of the 21st century." Next came Kartography, shortlisted again for the John Llewellyn Rhys award. That novel, along with Shamsie's fourth, Broken Verses, won the Patras Bokhari Award from the Academy of Letters in Pakistan.
Novel six, Burnt Shadows won Shamsie the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. A God in Every Stone was shortlisted for two prizes — the Walter Scott Prize and Baileys Women's Prize. Home Fire, Shamsie's seventh novel, was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.
Shamsie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2013 was included in Granta's list of 20 best young British writers. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved on 8/18/2017 .)
Book Reviews
Kamila Shamsie's new novel…a bold retelling of Sophocles' Antigone… begins with an airport interrogation…a scene that sets the tone for this ingenious and love-struck novel. Isma is eventually allowed to take off. Home Fire takes flight as well. This novel may seem to wobble in the minutes after its landing gear retracts. There are lurching shifts of tone as it moves between matters of the heart and of state. Do not panic. Order something from the drinks cart. Shamsie drives this gleaming machine home in a manner that, if I weren't handling airplane metaphors, I would call smashing.
Dwight Garner - New York Times
This is a haunting novel, full of dazzling moments and not a few surprising turns.… Home Fire blazes with the kind of annihilating devastation that transcends grief.
Katharine Weber - Washington Post
All of Shamsie’s novels are deeply moving and morally complex, leading to the kind of rich reading experience most of us hope for in every novel we pick up. Her newest has all of that and more.
San Francisco Chronicle
Shamsie’s prose is, as always, elegant and evocative. Home Fire pulls off a fine balancing act: it is a powerful exploration of the clash between society, family and faith in the modern world, while tipping its hat to the same dilemma in the ancient one.
Guardian (UK)
The most impressive part of Home Fire, though, is Shamsie's writing, which is beautiful without being florid, and urgent without being rushed.… Shamsie is at her best when she lets herself go; she's an immensely talented writer, and a deeply musical one as well. Home Fire might not be quite perfect, but it's still a gorgeous novel, and one that comes at just the right time.
Michael Schaub - NPR
Shamsie’s timely fiction probes the roots of radicalism and the pull of the family.
Oprah Magazine
Home Fire is about love, loyalty, and sacrifice — and it makes the headlines we read every day hit home in a way that will inspire any reader to fight for what's right.
Bustle
Shamise’s incredibly moving story addresses the conflict between what we feel to be right versus what the law tells us is right, and what we will sacrifice in the name of family.
Real Simple
[M]emorable…epic tale of two Muslim families whose lives are entangled by politics and conflict.… [S]eparated into five parts…each reveals a portion of the story from a different character’s perspective.… [S]lient and heartbreaking, culminating in a shocking ending.
Publishers Weekly
[A]ccomplished…emotionally compelling …lucid storytelling. [The author] digs into complex issues with confidence.… As this deftly constructed page-turner moves swiftly toward its inevitable conclusion, it forces questions about what sacrifice you would make for family, for love.
BookPage
(Starred review.) Gut-wrenching and undeniably relevant to today’s world.… In accessible, unwavering prose and without any heavy-handedness, Shamsie addresses an impressive mix of contemporary issues, from Muslim profiling to cultural assimilation and identity to the nuances of international relations. This shattering work leaves a lasting emotional impression.
Booklist
[H]aunting…explosive novel with big questions about the nature of justice, defiance, and love. [I]ts characters… don't quite come alive… [and] the book remains emotionally disconnected, unsettling—moving, even—but poetically removed.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Home Fire … then take off on your own:
1. The opening section begins with Isma Pasha nearly missing her flight. Talk about her treatment at the hands of "immigration" officials at Heathrow. How did the indignities she suffered at their hands make you feel?
2. Isma's voice is one of compromise and accommodation: how else might you describe her?
3. Talk about Parvaiz Pasha and his quest to honor his father, Adil. What kind of man, husband, and father was Adil, and what did his faith mean to him? When Parvaiz's eyes are opened to the caliphate and its atrocities, did you wonder how he could have been so misled?
4. What do you think of Isma and Eaamon Lone's relationship? Do they have a genuine connection? Why doesn't Isma let on that she knows who Eaamon's father is?
5. What are your thoughts about Aneeka? How does she define herself in relation to her faith, and how does her attitude toward Islam differ from her sister's?
6. Talk about the vast differences between the two families, the Pashas and the Lones.
7. Consider Aneeka's relationship with Eamonn — she is clearly manipulating him, but she have a higher purpose? As she puts it: "Why shouldn’t I admit it? What would you stop at to help the people you love most?"
8. After Isma informs the police that Parvaiz has left for Syria, Aneeka is appalled: "You betrayed us, both of us. Don't...expect me to ever agree to see your face again. We have no sister." Is Aneeka's anger justified? Would it have been bettier directed at her brother who betrayed them both? What do you think?
9. Where should Isma's loyalty lie: with her brother or her country? By informing the police of Parvaiz's intentions, did she make the right or wrong decision? Can there be a correct moral decision when faced with the impossible choice between family loyalty and duty to society?
10. What is mean by the title, "Home Fire." How does it differ from the World War I meaning, "keep the home fires burning."
11. Talk about the relevance of Home Fire to today's world. What do you see in the novel that illuminates and/or resonates with current concerns.
12. Kamila Shamsie has drawn inspiration from the ancient playwright Sophocles and his drama Antigone. Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, was prohibited by law from burying her brother. You may wish to do a little research in order to better understand Shamsie's conception — her modern take on the Sophoclean tragedy.
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Home for Unwanted Girls
Joanna Goodman, 2018
HarperCollins
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062684226
Summary
Philomena meets Orphan Train in this suspenseful, provocative novel filled with love, secrets, and deceit—the story of a young unwed mother who is forcibly separated from her daughter at birth and the lengths to which they go to find each other.
In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility—much like Maggie Hughes' parents. Maggie’s English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don’t include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over.
But Maggie’s heart is captured by Gabriel Phenix. When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life "back on track."
Elodie is raised in Quebec’s impoverished orphanage system. It’s a precarious enough existence that takes a tragic turn when Elodie, along with thousands of other orphans in Quebec, is declared mentally ill as the result of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages.
Bright and determined, Elodie withstands abysmal treatment at the nuns' hands, finally earning her freedom at seventeen, when she is thrust into an alien, often unnerving world.
Maggie, married to a businessman eager to start a family, cannot forget the daughter she was forced to abandon, and a chance reconnection with Gabriel spurs a wrenching choice.
As time passes, the stories of Maggie and Elodie intertwine but never touch, until Maggie realizes she must take what she wants from life and go in search of her long-lost daughter, finally reclaiming the truth that has been denied them both. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Joanna Goodman is the author of the bestselling novels The Finishing School (2017) and The Home for Unwanted Girls (2018). Although fictional, the latter book, set in Quebec, Ontario, during the 1950s, was inspired in part by her mother's experiences.
Originally from Montreal, Joanna now lives in Toronto with her husband and two children. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[A] moving if at times predictable.… While the third-person perspective works well for Maggie’s character, it comes off as unrealistic and forced in chapters about the younger Elodie …. Still, Goodman writes with passion about a dark episode in Quebec’s recent past.
Publishers Weekly
Goodman was inspired in part by her mother's story for this novel set in 1950s Quebec.… [Her] solid historical novel highlights social conditions in Quebec… with complex characters and the conflict between the French and English handled realistically. —Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont.
Library Journal
A study of how love persists through the most trying of circumstances. Deep and meaningful, this novel captures the reader’s attention until they’re rewarded with a happy ending.
Booklist
[L]ittle-known injustices… [but] also a very personal story.… Characters who could have easily come across as types or cliches take on a great emotional depth.…The ending hits a perfect emotional note: bittersweet and honest, comforting and regretful.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How does the prologue (or poem at the start of the book) frame the rest of the novel? How does it relate to the book's themes?
2. What would Elodie's life have been like if she hadn't been given up?
3. What would Maggie's life have been like if she hadn't had Elodie?
4. If you were presented with the same choice as Maggie, would you do the same?
5. Are Maggie's father's actions justified? Do you forgive him?
6. What draws Maggie to her first husband? What does her marriage to her first husband say about her relationship to her family and heritage?
7. What does "The Home for Unwanted Girls" mean? What does it mean for a child to be"unwanted" in this context?
8. How do Maggie's and Elodie's abusers justify their actions? How has this shaped both women?
9. What do you think of Gabriel? Do you understand his perspective? Is he a healthy partner for Maggie?
10. What are your thoughts on Maggie's mother? Is she another abuser, or a devoted mother who has made mistakes?
11. How does Maggie change from the start of the novel? From a teenager to an adult? Do you admire her at the end of the book?
12. The book shifts between mother and daughter. How does this change your understanding of the book? Why do you think the author chose to tell the story in this way?
13. How do you feel about the nun who kept Maggie and Elodie apart? How do Maggie, Elodie, and Gabriel cope with her cruelty?
14. What do you think of the ending? Do you feel optimistic about their future?
15. How do Elodie, Maggie, and Maggie's mother approach motherhood? How does motherhood change how they think of themselves?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Home Front
Kristin Hannah, 2012
St. Martin's Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312577209
Summary
In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.
All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls.
As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own---for everything that matters to his family.
At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September, 1960
• Where—Southern California, USA
• Reared—Western Washington State
• Education—J.D., from a school in Washington (state)
• Awards—Awards—Golden Heart Award; Maggie Award; National Reader's Choice
• Currently—lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington
In her words
I was born in September 1960 in Southern California and grew up at the beach, making sand castles and playing in the surf. When I was eight years old, my father drove us to Western Washington where we called home.
After working in a trendy advertising agency, I decided to go to law school. "But you're going to be a writer" are the prophetic words I will never forget from my mother. I was in my third-and final-year of law school and my mom was in the hospital, facing the end of her long battle with cancer. I was shocked to discover that she believed I would become a writer. For the next few months, we collaborated on the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written.
After my mom's death, I packed up all those bits and pieces of paper we'd collected and put them in a box in the back of my closet. I got married and continued practicing law.
Then I found out I was pregnant, but was on bed rest for five months. By the time I'd read every book in the house and started asking my husband for cereal boxes to read, I knew I was a goner. That's when my darling husband reminded me of the book I'd started with my mom. I pulled out the boxes of research material, dusted them off and began writing. By the time my son was born, I'd finished a first draft and found an obsession.
The rejections came, of course, and they stung for a while, but each one really just spurred me to try harder, work more. In 1990, I got "the call," and in that moment, I went from a young mother with a cooler-than-average hobby to a professional writer, and I've never looked back. In all the years between then and now, I have never lost my love of, or my enthusiasm for, telling stories. I am truly blessed to be a wife, a mother, and a writer. (From the author's website .)
Book Reviews
Jolene Zarkades has dedicated her life to two things: her family and her career as a helicopter pilot in the National Guard. Her 12-year marriage to Michael, however, is crumbling. A defense attorney, Michael has thrown himself into his work to cope with the death of his father and his feelings of distance from Jolene. After he misses their daughter's track meet, Michael and Jolene get into a fight that results in him declaring that he doesn't love her anymore. The next day, Jolene finds out that her unit is being deployed to Iraq; Michael is furious that she is leaving him to juggle single parenthood and his practice, and they part on bad terms. Her letters home to their daughters exclude the harsh truths of war, but while she's away, Michael starts to come to terms with how much he has taken for granted. Jolene's tour of duty is cut short when her helicopter goes down, killing a young man, severely injuring Jolene, and leaving her best friend Tami in a coma. When Jolene returns home, she must cope with her own anger, guilt, fear, and frustration. Michael begins to understand her situation as he defends a Marine whose PTSD made him kill his wife. Slowly, Jolene heals, beginning the process of coming to terms with her life. By reversing traditional expectations, Hannah (Night Road) calls attention to the modern female soldier and offers a compassionate, poignant look at the impact of war on family.
Publishers Weekly
Hannah's (Night Road; Winter Garden) latest is an emotional, honest, and timely read that depicts the life of a military family from a female perspective. Jolene is a mother who protects her two children, Betsy and Lulu, with ubiquitous positivity, but she can't preserve her marriage with Michael and their growing distance and fading love. Michael has never embraced Jolene's job as a helicopter pilot in the Army National Guard, and their relationship grows more strained when Jolene and her best friend are deployed to Iraq. Over the course of her tour, Jolene is understandably changed—she's broken both physically and mentally when she returns home. And Michael, too, has changed. Can they try to love again with this new life before them? Verdict: Hannah has written a remarkable tale of duty, love, strength, and hope that is at times poignant and always thoroughly captivating and relevant. Buy multiples for her many fans. —Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L
Library Journal
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.... Jolene "Jo" Zarkades...returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear.... Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah's default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war's aftermath.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In the prologue of Home Front, we see Jolene’s early life and the incident that leads up to her parents’ deaths. How does this scene lay the groundwork for her personality and her choices in the remainder of the book?
2. When Michael says, “I don’t love you anymore,” he wonders fleetingly if he’d said the words so that Jolene would fall apart or cry or say that she was in love with him. What does this internal question reveal about Michael? About Jolene?
3. When Jolene learns of her deployment, she is conflicted. She thinks that she wants to go (to war), but that she doesn’t want to leave (her family). Can you understand the dichotomy she is experiencing? Discuss a mother’s deployment and what it means from all angles—honor, love, commitment, abandonment. Can you understand a soldier/mother’s duty? Do you think it’s harder for a mother to leave than a father? Is there a double standard?
4. Jolene and Michael’s 12-year marriage is on the rocks when the novel begins. Did you blame both of them equally for the problems in their relationship? Did your assignment of blame change over the course of the novel?
5. Jolene worries that Betsy will see her deployment as abandonment. Do you agree with this? Think of yourself at Betsy and Seth’s age: how would your twelve-year-old-self have reacted to your mother going off to war?
6. When Michael sees Jolene for the first time in Germany, he is so overwhelmed by the magnitude of her injuries that he can’t be strong for her. He reveals both pity and revulsion. Discuss his reaction. How do you think you would handle a similar situation?
7. At home, Jolene can’t cope with her new life. She can’t reconcile the woman she used to be with the woman she has become. She wonders how it could be harder to return from war than to fight in it. What does she mean by this? A soldier gets a lot of training and preparation before going to war. Should there be more preparation for returning home?
8. Early in Jolene’s homecoming, Mila says: “We all knew how hard it would be to have you gone, but no one told us how hard it would be when you came back.” What do you think about this comment? Do we romanticize homecomings and thereby somehow set ourselves up for disappointment? What could her family have done to make Jolene’s return an easier transition?
9. At the beginning of her physical therapy, Jolene asks Conny how she is supposed to forget about her injury if it keeps hurting. What does this question reveal about Jolene’s personality and her attitude toward her injury? How does this attitude hinder her recovery? How does it help her?
10. Dr. Cornflower describes Jolene as a woman who has spent a lifetime in the Army getting what she wants from a system that doesn’t want to give it to her. What does he mean by this? Do you agree? How is a woman’s career in the military different from any other career? How is it similar?
11. During the Keller trial, Michael turns in the middle of his opening address to look at Jolene. Why did he choose this very public forum as the time to address the Iraq War with his wife?
12. Although the dire effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are as timeless as war itself, the counseling and support services provided to military men and women returning from war are often insufficient, and the public is often ill-informed about the vast consequences of the disorder. What did you already know about the disorder, and what insights did you gain from reading Home Front?
13. Discuss the various relationships formed between parent and child—from Michael’s relationship with his daughters and his grief for his father to Jolene’s relationship with Mila. Which struck the most resounding chord for you? Why?
14. On page 177, Jolene thinks about the word “heroes” and all that it means in the shadow of loss. For her, heroes were her fallen comrades. What is the definition of a hero to you? Who is one of your own heroes? How do our heroes reflect our values?
15. This book explores a lot of dramatic situations and powerful emotions. Has reading it changed you in any way? What was the most important thing you learned in reading this book? Who would you like to recommend the book to and why?
(From the author's website.)
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Home Safe
Elizabeth Berg, 2009
Random House
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345487551
Summary
Beloved author Elizabeth Berg tells the story of the recently widowed Helen Ames and of her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa. Helen is shocked to discover that her mild-mannered and loyal husband had been leading a double life.
The Ames’s had saved money for a happy retirement, planned in minute detail, but that money has disappeared in several big withdrawals—spent by Helen’s husband before he died. What could he possibly have been doing? And what is Helen to do now? Why does Helen’s daughter object to her mother’s applying for a job—and why doesn’t Tessa meet a nice man and get married?
What Helen’s husband did with all their money turns out to be provocative, revelatory—and leads Helen and her daughter to embark on new adventures, and change. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 2, 1948
• Where—St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
• Education—A.A.S, St. Mary’s College
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois
Before she became a writer, Elizabeth Berg spent 10 years as a nurse. It's a field, as she says on her website, that helped her to become a writer:
Taking care of patients taught me a lot about human nature, about hope and fear and love and loss and regret and triumph and especially about relationships—all things that I tend to focus on in my work.
Her sensitivity to humanity is what Berg's writing is noted for. As Publishers Weekly wrote in reviewing The Dream Lover, her 2015 portrayal of George Sand, "Berg offers vivid, sensual detail and a sensitive portrayal of the yearning and vulnerability" behind her main character.
Background
Berg was born in St. Paul Minneapolis. When her father re-enlisted in the Army, she and her family were moved from base to base—in one single year, she went to three different schools. Her peripatetic childhood makes it hard for Berg to answer the usually simple question, "where did you grow up?"
Berg recalls that she loved to write at a young age. She was only nine when she submitted her first poem to American Girl magazine; sadly, it was rejected. It was another 25 years before she submitted anything again—to Parents Magazine—and that time she won.
In addition to nursing, Berg worked as a waitress, another field she claims is "good training for a writer." She also sang in a rock band.
Writing
Berg ended up writing for magazines for 10 years before she finally turned to novels. Since her 1993 debut with Durable Goods, her books have sold in large numbers and been translated into 27 languages. She writes nearly a book a year, a number of which have received awards and honors.
Recognition
Two of Berg's books, Durable Goods and Joy School, were listed as "Best Books of the Year" by the American Library Association. Open House became an Oprah Book Club Selection.
She won the New England Booksellers Award for her body of work, and Boston Public Library made her a "literary light." She has also been honored by the Chicago Public Library. An article on a cooking school in Italy, for National Geographic Traveler magazine, won an award from the North American Travel Journalists Association.
Personal
Now divorced, Berg was married for over twenty years and has two daughters and three grandchildren. She lives with her dogs and a cat in Chicago. (Author bio adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Love, work and the absence of both figure prominently in Berg's latest, a rumination on loss and replenishment. Since novelist Helen's husband, Dan, died a year ago, she's been unable to write, and though her publisher and agent aren't worried, she is, particularly after a disastrous performance at a public speaking engagement leaves her wondering if her writing career will be another permanent loss. Meanwhile, daughter Tessa is getting impatient as Helen smothers her with awkward motherly affection. Tessa longs for distance and some independence, but Helen is unable to run her suburban Chicago home without continually calling on Tessa to perform the handyman chores that once belonged to Dan. And then Helen discovers Dan had withdrawn a huge chunk of their retirement money, and Helen's quest to find out what happened turns into a journey of self-discovery and hard-won healing. Berg gracefully renders, in tragic and comic detail, the notions that every life-however blessed-has its share of awful loss, and that even crushed, defeated hearts can be revived.
Publishers Weekly
Eleven months after her husband's sudden death, Helen Ames remains helpless about home repair, ignorant of finances, and stymied by writer's block. Lonely and unsuited to any job outside the home, Helen has nothing to do but exasperate her adult daughter, Tessa, by intruding, until the family accountant calls asking about a secret withdrawal of $850,000 her husband made before dying. The mystery is quickly resolved, but in the meantime, Helen reluctantly agrees to lead an adult writing workshop for pay. The story then proceeds comfortably through Helen's coming to terms with her husband's surprise, her daughter's well-meaning withdrawal, and Helen's journey of self-discovery—with the help of her students-outside of her roles as wife, mother, writer. Prolific novelist Berg (The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted) is an accomplished master of women's fiction. Her warmth, humor, and forgiving eye for human nature, mixing wry observation with heartwarming moments, make this a pleasant read. Recommended for popular fiction collections. —Laurie A. Cavanaugh
Library Journal
Berg is a tender and enchanting storyteller who wisely celebrates the simple, sustaining elements of life, from comfort food to birdsong to a good laugh. A keen and funny observer, she is the poet of kindness. And not only is this an insightful, graceful, and romantic novel of one charmingly contradictory woman’s path through grief, it is also a paean to the profound pleasures and revelations of reading and the adventure and catharsis of writing. Books, Berg affirms in her magical way, are a unifying force for good in the cosmos.
Booklist
Widow discovers an $850,000 crack in her nest egg in Berg's latest (The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted, 2008, etc.). Helen, a bestselling author living in Chicago, is experiencing writer's block for the first time in her life. And no wonder: Her husband Dan died of a heart attack at the breakfast table. Her elderly father has cancer. Phobic about money matters, she's been dodging increasingly frantic calls from her accountant, Steve, and has toyed with taking holiday employment at Anthropologie, even going so far as to interview. A library program director is hounding her to teach a writer's workshop. Toxic fan mail from wannabe writer Margot attacks Helen's body of work as "insipid," "mawkish" and an insult to literature. When Steve finally reaches Helen it's to ask if she has any idea what her husband did with the 850 large he withdrew from the couple's retirement account before his death. Helen had preferred to let Dan handle all the finances, but she had no reason not to trust him. After some promising setups (At 59, would Helen be Anthropologie's oldest cashier? Was squeaky-clean Dan leading a double life?) Berg seems to fall back on her default worldview: Her characters are simply too nice, too timid or both, to get themselves into any interesting messes. Helen sabotages the job interview, and she learns early on (from well-preserved hunky architect Tom) that Dan siphoned off the funds to surprise Helen with the California retirement house of her dreams. The writing class adds the most spice-Helen's arch-rival, a catty novelist, is a co-instructor, and arch-rival-in training Margot brings a masterpiece to the workshop. Otherwise, stock minor players—Helen's skeptical daughter, Tessa,her wise-cracking best girlfriend, Midge, and Tom, a hot romantic prospect (and he's handy too!)—and a plot that ducks every conflict render this outing listless. Neither insipid nor mawkish but definitely phoned-in.
Kirkus Reviews
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. In the opening pages of Home Safe, we see Helen as a young girl, writing poetry to deal with the grief of losing a classmate: “With this, she was given peace” (page 4). What types of activities calm or fulfill you? How do they resonate emotionally?
2. Helen says that her favorite Christmas gift is the custom-mixed CD her daughter makes for her each year. Do you have a tradition of making homemade gifts? What have been some of your favorite or most memorable holiday gifts? What gift would you be thrilled to get from your child? From your parent?
3. As a diversion, Helen prepares an elaborate meal of “roast pork with cinnamon apple chutney, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans with crispy shallots,” and an apple crisp (page 26). If you were making such a meal just for yourself, what foods would you choose? What roles does food play in our lives? What types of situations and occasions do you associate with special meals? Discuss other creative pursuits that you might have or indeed have tried in a similar situation.
4. One writing exercise Helen uses as a teaching tool is for her students to write short stories using a number of given objects: “an old silver hairbrush, a blackened frying pan, a love letter from the 1930s, a pair of men’s shoes, a floppy-necked teddy bear, one dusty wing of a butterfly” (page 47). What sort of story might you construct about these objects? Who do these things belong to? If you had created this exercise, what objects might you have chosen?
5. Helen relates, on page 89, that Dan used a children’s book to illustrate his dream of sailing. Are there any particular children’s books that resonate with you as an adult? That influence you? Why?
6. The title’s title, Home Safe, appears in an expression Helen recalls on page 86. How did Helen and Dan use this phrase? What people or places in your life give you this feeling?
7. Helen wonders what she and Dan might have discussed in the tree house, recalling that a friend had wisely said,“It’s not the things you have in a tree house, it’s the things you think about there” (page 129). If you could have a special retreat of your own, what and where would it be, and why? What sorts of things would you discuss there, and with whom
8. When Helen considers moving to San Francisco, knowing that Tessa has accepted a job there, she wonders if Tessa will be upset about it, and asks herself if she “is allowed to make a decision that is for and about herself?” (page182). This question of whether an action is for Tessa or for Helen recurs throughout the novel. From where does this question stem? How does this issue affect their relationship? How would you advise each party? Do you know a mother-daughter pair, or a female pair with a different bond, who disagrees on such issues?
9. Helen thinks that “if you leave one home, you can find another” (page 202). Who or what makes a home? What qualities do you associate with home? Have you found Helen’s thought to be true in your own life?
10. The details and features of Helen’s dream house are carefully and delightfully described. What might your dream house look like? What features would it include? Where would it be located?
11. What parts of Helen’s journey are universal? What parts can you relate to your own life? What themes does Elizabeth Berg draw out of the characters?
12. The lush and detailed images in this novel are unique. Can you point out a few effective images that really conveyed the novel’s themes to you? What images did you most relate and respond to?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
Home to Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap series #4)
Adriana Trigiani, 2006
Random House
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812967821
In Brief
(Last in the "Big Stone Gap" quartet.)
Nestled in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the town of Big Stone Gap has been home for Ave Maria Mulligan Machesney and her family for generations. She’s been married to her beloved Jack for nearly twenty years, raised one child and buried another, and run a business that binds her community together, all while holding her tight circle of family and friends close.
But with her daughter, Etta, having flown the nest to enchanting Italy, Ave Maria has reached a turning point. When a friend’s postcard arrives with the message “It’s time to live your life for you,” Ave Maria realizes that it’s time to go in search of brand-new dreams. But before she can put her foot on the path, her life is turned upside down.
Ave Maria agrees to helm the town musical, a hilarious reunion of local talent past and present. A lifelong friendship collapses when a mysterious stranger comes to town and reveals a long-buried secret. An unexpected health crisis threatens her family. An old heartthrob reappears, challenging her marriage and offering a way out of her troubles. An opportunistic coal company comes to town and threatens to undermine the town’s way of life and the mountain landscape Ave Maria has treasured since she was a girl. Now she has no choice but to reinvent her world, her life, and herself, whether she wants to or not.
Trigiani is at her best in this exquisite page-turner. Home to Big Stone Gap is an emotional and unforgettable journey that reminds us that you can go home again and again. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
• Birth—1960
• Where—Big Stone Gap, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., St. Mary’s College, Indiana, USA
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
As her squadrons of fans already know, Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, a coal-mining town in southwest Virginia that became the setting for her first three novels. The "Big Stone Gap" books feature Southern storytelling with a twist: a heroine of Italian descent, like Trigiani, who attended St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, like Trigiani. But the series isn't autobiographical—the narrator, Ave Maria Mulligan, is a generation older than Trigiani and, as the first book opens, has settled into small-town spinsterhood as the local pharmacist.
The author, by contrast, has lived most of her adult life in New York City. After graduating from college with a theater degree, she moved to the city and began writing and directing plays (her day jobs included cook, nanny, house cleaner and office temp). In 1988, she was tapped to write for the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World, and spent the following decade working in television and film. When she presented her friend and agent Suzanne Gluck with a screenplay about Big Stone Gap, Gluck suggested she turn it into a novel.
The result was an instant bestseller that won praise from fellow writers along with kudos from celebrities (Whoopi Goldberg is a fan). It was followed by Big Cherry Holler and Milk Glass Moon, which chronicle the further adventures of Ave Maria through marriage and motherhood. People magazine called them "Delightfully quirky... chock full of engaging, oddball characters and unexpected plot twists."
Critics sometimes reach for food imagery to describe Trigiani's books, which have been called "mouthwatering as fried chicken and biscuits" (USA Today) and "comforting as a mug of tea on a rainy Sunday" (New York Times Book Review). Food and cooking play a big role in the lives of Trigiani's heroines and their families: Lucia, Lucia, about a seamstress in Greenwich Village in the 1950s, and The Queen of the Big Time, set in an Italian-American community in Pennsylvania, both feature recipes from Trigiani's grandmothers. She and her sisters have even co-written a cookbook called, appropriately enough, Cooking With My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap. It's peppered with anecdotes, photos and family history. What it doesn't have: low-carb recipes. "An Italian girl can only go so long without pasta," Trigiani quipped in an interview on GoTriCities.com.
Her heroines are also ardent readers, so it comes as no surprise that book groups love Adriana Trigiani. And she loves them right back. She's chatted with scores of them on the phone, and her Web site includes photos of women gathered together in living rooms and restaurants across the country, waving Italian flags and copies of Lucia, Lucia.
Trigiani, a disciplined writer whose schedule for writing her first novel included stints from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning, is determined not to disappoint her fans. So far, she's produced a new novel each year since the publication of Big Stone Gap.
I don't take any of it for granted, not for one second, because I know how hard this is to catch with your public," she said in an interview with The Independent. "I don't look at my public as a group; I look at them like individuals, so if a reader writes and says, 'I don't like this,' or, 'This bit stinks,' I take it to heart.
Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:
• I appeared on the game show Kiddie Kollege on WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia, when I was in the third grade. I missed every question. It was humiliating.
• I have held the following jobs: office temp, ticket seller in movie theatre, cook in restaurant, nanny, and phone installer at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. In the writing world, I have been a playwright, television writer/producer, documentary writer/director, and now novelist.
• I love rhinestones, faux jewelry. I bought a pair of pearl studded clip on earrings from a blanket on the street when I first moved to New York for a dollar. They turned out to be a pair designed by Elsa Schiaparelli. Now, they are costume, but they are still Schiaps! Always shop in the street—treasures aplenty.
• When asked what book most influenced her life as a writer, here is what she said:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. When I was a girl growing up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, I was in the middle of a large Italian family, but I related to the lonely orphan girl Jane, who with calm and focus, put one foot in front of the other to make a life for herself after the death of her parents and her terrible tenure with her mean relatives. She survived the horrors of the orphanage Lowood, losing her best friend to consumption, became a teacher and then a nanny. The love story with the complicated Rochester was interesting to me, but what moved me the most was Jane's character, in particular her sterling moral code. Here was a girl who had no reason to do the right thing, she was born poor and had no connections and yet, somehow she was instinctively good and decent. It's a story of personal triumph and the beauty of human strength. I also find the book a total page turner- and it's one of those stories that you become engrossed in, unable to put it down. Imagine the beauty of the line: "I loved and was loved." It doesn't get any better than that!
(Author bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)
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Critics Say . . .
The delightful Blue Ridge Mountain town of Big Stone Gap, Va., once again comes to life through the voice of Ave Maria MacChesney in Trigiani's fourth entry in the series. Ave has just returned from an emotional trip to daughter Etta's wedding in Italy with her husband, Jack. As Ave learns to juggle empty-nest freedoms with the ache of loss, Jack's sudden health problems send Ave into a quiet panic. She struggles to be supportive while imagining the worst. Her fears allayed, she ends up directing the town's annual winter musical, a production of The Sound of Music that would send the Von Trapp family heading for the hills. Adding to the mix, Ave's close buddy, Iva Lou, becomes distant when a long-held secret surfaces, threatening their friendship. Thankfully, Theodore Tipton, the town "rock star," returns from New York City for a holiday visit. Memorable characters and smalltown magic (including recipes) continue to have appeal, but unwanted pregnancies, mountain strip-mining, the rearing up of old griefs and a trip to Scotland (given short shrift) have a kitchen-sink feel.
Publishers Weekly
Trigiani continues the saga of the folks of Big Stone Gap, with Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney facing a number of life-changing moments while directing a Blue Ridge Mountain stage version of The Sound of Music. Blended into the usual mix of appreciative descriptions and comparisons of Virginia and Italy are the Scottish Highlands, as lifelong dreams are realized. This is a novel that could conclude the series, given its much more reflective tone. Well read by Cassandra Campbell, the book draws on the comfort of old friends, family recipes, and familiar scenarios that offer new challenges and promises. Recommended.
Library Journal
Trigiani revisits the sleepy Virginia hamlet of Big Stone Gap. The author of the "Big Stone Gap" trilogy (Milk Glass Moon, 2002, etc.) rejoins her small-town characters as Ave Marie and her husband, Jack MacChesney, head home after attending the wedding of their daughter Etta in Italy. The story focuses on Ave Marie as she tackles the ennui of being an empty-nester. Upon her return, Ave Maria resumes her work at the pharmacy and catches up with friends, but she feels a void and soon volunteers to direct the local musical production. There's plenty of drama waiting for Ave Maria outside the theater doors. First, Jack is stricken with an illness that threatens to widow Ave Maria, and then, Ave Maria has a falling out with her best pal, Iva Lou, over a mysterious stranger who pops up on Thanksgiving Day. Throughout, this can all be a drag: Ave Maria is self-absorbed. The world seems to revolve around her whims and worries. It's a wonder how she has so many men swooning over her. Her meddling can be a source of amusement, but her stubbornness is grating. When it comes to these characters, Trigiani lets no thought go unmentioned and no inane detail missed. The glorious setting and the disarmingly frank supporting characters save this work from being nothing but mediocre dross. Cloyingly sweet tale about life and loss in a small country town.
Kirkus Reviews
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Book Club Discussion Questions
1. In one of the early scenes in HOME TO BIG STONE GAP, Ave Maria’s friend Theodore Tipton sends her a postcard that states, “Start living your life for you.” By the end of the novel, has Ave Maria taken this advice?
2. When the prospect of using mountaintop removal as an alternative form of coal mining is raised to Ave Maria and her husband, Jack, Ave Maria is instantly against the idea. Do you think she has considered both sides? What exactly is at stake in her argument with Jack about this issue?
3. Why does Trigiani include the character of Randy in her novel? What is the significance of the similarities between Randy and Joe, as well as between Randy’s mother and Ave Maria? What does Ave Maria learn from Randy?
4. Do you think it’s fair for Ave Maria to confront Iva Lou about her mysterious past? What lasting effects does this experience have on Ave Maria and Iva’s relationship? What would you do in the same situation?
5. According to Ave Maria’s experience, a woman’s method of coping is to “make things pretty when the road gets rocky,” while Jack “wants facts, answers, and drop-dead ultimatums.” Do you generally agree with her assessment of her husband? How do men and women deal with crises differently?
6. Reflecting upon Etta’s move to Italy, Ave Maria says, “Maybe fate is the footwork of decisions made with loving intentions.” Do you think this is true? What examples from the book support this claim? What examples challenge it?
7. How does the trip to Scotland affect Ave Maria’s relationships with Etta and Jack? Do you feel that any transformations have occurred?
8. Bridges, both literal and figurative, are an important symbol throughout the novel. Why is one of Jack’s goals to build a bridge? What sorts of bridges are constructed—and dismantled—throughout the course of the novel? Finally, how do you interpret Ave Maria’s statement that “Jack needed to build it, if only to know the deep river that runs through Cracker’s Neck Holler”?
9. Perhaps more so than any of the other novels in this series, Home to Big Stone Gap grapples with the theme of loss. One of Ave Maria’s major challenges throughout the book is learning how to let go and come to terms with moving on. In what ways has she accomplished this by the end of the novel? In what ways is she still hanging on? How do Ave Maria’s experiences compare with your own?
(Questions issued by Random House.)
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The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
Jenny Wingfield, 2012
Random House
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385344098
Summary
Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at “the old home place,” a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. The children embrace the reunion as a welcome escape from the prying eyes of their father’s congregation; for Willadee it’s a precious opportunity to spend time with her mother and father, Calla and John. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core: John’s untimely death and, soon after, the loss of Samuel’s parish, which set the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change.
In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee’s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But it is Blade Ballenger, a traumatized eight-year-old neighbor, who soon captures Swan’s undivided attention. Full of righteous anger, and innocent of the peril facing her and those she loves, Swan makes it her mission to keep the boy safe from his terrifying father.
With characters who spring to life as vividly as if they were members of one’s own family, and with the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic—and triumphant—aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield emerges as one of the most vital, engaging storytellers writing today. In The Homecoming of Samuel Lake she has created a memorable and lasting work of fiction. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Jenny Wingfield lives in Texas with her rescued dogs, cats, and horses. Her screenplay credits include The Man in the Moon and The Outsider. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A deeply personal story, yet it has universal appeal.... Swan Lake absolutely has the same plucky spirit as Scout Finch.... Wingfield also has the same mesmerizingly graceful way with words [as Harper Lee].
Forth Worth Star-Telegram
Wingfield hooks the reader with her opening sentence.... The reader is thoroughly caught up in the family saga.
Abilene Reporter-News
A lovely debut.... A bittersweet, inspirational tale.
Dallas Morning News
It’s all here. Faith. Honesty. Sin. Redemption.... Anyone who loves Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird will delight in Swan, the Lakes' eleven-year-old daughter.
USA Today
Set in 1950s Arkansas, screenwriter Wingfield's restrained, sometimes dark debut novel tells the story of preacher Samuel Lake and his family and how they are all affected by their move back to his wife Willadee's hometown. After Willadee's father kills himself and Samuel finds out that there's no church post waiting for him in Louisiana, the Lakes' decide to stay with Willadee's mother, Calla, on the farm in Arkansas and help out with the family store. Samuel's gorgeous but delusional sister-in-law (who's also his former fiancee) Bernice, is delighted: she only meant to teach Samuel a lesson by marrying Willadee's brother, Toy, a decent guy who came home from the war and killed Bernice's lover with his bare hands. Toy fruitlessly hopes to regain his wife's affections, but he's gladdened by the presence of the three Lake children: Bienville, 9; Swan, 11; and particularly Noble, 12, whom he takes under his wing after an encounter with school bullies. Swan, meanwhile, befriends the neighbors' abused son, Blade, and the children witness a horrible scene in which Blade is disfigured by his violent father, Ras, who also reveals his sadism with the horses he trains for a living. Wingfield writes complex, believable heroes, although her villains are straight from central casting, but the writing is good and the story well done, with redemption trumping tragedy in scenes ripe with tension and dread.
Publishers Weekly
In 1950s Arkansas, 12-year-old Swan Lake does what she thinks is right—she hides an eight-year-old friend whose father has been beating him mercilessly. Alas, Swan's preacher father has different ideas. This debut from screenwriter Wingfield (e.g., The Man in the Moon, starring a young Reese Witherspoon) is getting a big push, including a nine-city tour. A good bet, especially for regional libraries.
Library Journal
Movie viewers who remember the 1991 tearjerker The Man in the Moon know what to expect from screenwriter Wingfield's first novel, a rural Christian heart-warmer set in 1956 southern Arkansas.... Wingfield's film experience shows in her flair for dialogue. But the simplistic division between good and evil characters and her apparent approval of righteous killing going unpunished may trouble some readers.... Hefty helpings of corn-pone charm become leaden with down-home sanctimony.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What would you sacrifice for your family? Did Toy do the right thing? Did Sam?
2. What purpose did Swan and Uncle Toy have to each other and to the other characters in the story?
3. In what ways does The Homecoming of Samuel Lake remind you of other Southern Gothic style literature? Give examples.
4. How does the character Swan Lake compare to Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird? How does Atticus Finch compare to Samuel Lake?
5. Compare the characters of Willadee and Bernice. How were they different? How were they similar?
6. What role does the church play in the development of the story? Why does Swan wish that her father was anything but a preacher?
7. Explore the difference between the Moses' Truth and the Honest Truth. Both present their own challenges. Discuss how in the end the Honest Truth supports the Moses Truth.
(Questions from publisher.
Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101947135
Summary
Winner, 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award
A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel.
Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle.
Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery.
One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America.
From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi’s magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control.
Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1989-1990
• Where—Ghana
• Raised—Huntsville, Alabama, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Award—National Book Critics Circle Award
• Currently—lives in Berkeley, California
Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she held a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship. She lives in Berkeley, California. Her debut novel, Homegoing, was published to wide acclaim in 2016, as was her second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, in 2020. (From the publisher.)
Read Slate's interview with Yaa Gyasi. It's far more encompassing than we can do here!
Book Reviews
The novel is work, requiring readers' full attention to follow the connections and lineage between characters while also absorbing details and present-day consequences of historical happenings that are unimaginable. In reward for this effort, Yaa Gasi got in my head, pushing me to further examine my lens and perspective.… Indeed we must. Homegoing captured me and I highly recommend it.
Abby Fabiaschi, AUTHOR - LitLovers READ MORE…
Remarkable...compelling. The novel...provides deep background for today’s controversies over racial justice...and is highly readable. In other words, Homegoing enters a ready and waiting reading world, and it is built to satisfy.... [T]his powerful novel in particular, can reveal the large and small significances of history, while also delivering the pleasures of story.
Rebecca Steinitz - Boston Globe
Tracing three centuries in Ghana, and the wildly different experiences—prosperity, poverty, comfort, captivity—of two half-sisters and their descendants in Ghana and the U.S., Yaa Gyasi's debut novel promises to be a memorable epic of changing families and changing nations.
Laura Pearson - Chicago Tribune
Heart-wrenching.... Gyasi’s unsentimental prose, her vibrant characters and her rich settings keep the pages turning no matter how mournful the plot.... The chapters change narrators effortlessly and smoothly transition between time periods.... Yaa Gyasi’s assured Homegoing is a panorama of splendid faces.
Soniah Kamal - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The brilliance of this structure, in which we know more than the characters do about the fate of their parents and children, pays homage to the vast scope of slavery without losing sight of its private devastation.... [Toni Morrison’s] influence is palpable in Gyasi’s historicity and lyricism.... No novel has better illustrated the way in which racism became institutionalized in this country.
Megan O’Grady - Vogue
Homegoing is an epic novel in every sense of the word—spanning three centuries, Homegoing is a sweeping account of two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana and the lives of their many generations of descendants in America. A stunning, unforgettable account of family, history, and racism, Homegoing is an ambitious work that lives up to the hype.
Jarry Lee - Buzzfeed
Stunning... [Homegoing] may just be one of the richest, most rewarding reads of 2016. (“19 Summer Books That Everyone Will Be Talking About")
Meredith Turits - Elle
Gyasi gives voice, and an empathetic ear, to the ensuing seven generations of flawed and deeply human descendants, creating a patchwork mastery of historical fiction.
Cotton Codinha - Elle Magazine
[A] commanding debut...will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. When people talk about all the things fiction can teach its readers, they’re talking about books like this.
Steph Opitz - Marie Claire
(Starred review.) Gyasi’s amazing debut offers an unforgettable, page-turning look at the histories of Ghana and America... [where] prosperity rises and falls from parent to child, love comes and goes....Gyasi writes...with remarkable freshness and subtlety. A marvelous novel.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Gyasi's characters are vividly drawn, sympathetic yet not simplistically heroic... This is an amazing first novel, remarkable in its epic vision. —Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA
Library Journal
Rarely does a grand, sweeping epic plumb interior lives so thoroughly. Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is a marvel. —Dave Wheeler, associate editor
Shelf Awareness
Gyasi is a deeply empathetic writer, and each of the novel’s 14 chapters is a savvy character portrait that reveals the impact of racism from multiple perspectives.... A promising debut that’s awake to emotional, political, and cultural tensions across time and continents.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Evaluate the title of the book. Why do you think that the author chose the word Homegoing? What is a homegoing and where does it appear in the novel? In addition to the term’s literal meaning, discuss what symbolic meanings or associations the title might have in terms of a connection with our place of birth, our ancestors, our heritage, and our personal and cultural histories.
2. Explore the theme of belief. What forms of belief are depicted in the book and what purpose do these beliefs seem to serve for the characters? Does the author reveal what has shaped the characters’ beliefs? Do these beliefs seem to have a mostly positive or negative impact on the believer and those around them?
3. What perspective does the book offer on the subject of beliefs and otherness? For instance, does the book delineate between superstition and belief? Why does Ma Aku reprimand Jo after he is kicked out of church? What do the Missionary and the fetish man contribute to a dialogue on beliefs and otherness? Does the book ultimately suggest the best way to confront beliefs that are foreign to us?
4. Evaluate the treatment and role of women in the novel. What role does marriage play within the cultures represented in the novel and how are the women treated as a result? Likewise, what significance does fertility and motherhood have for the women and how does it influence their treatment? In the chapter entitled "Effia," what does Adwoa tell Effia that her coupling with James is really about? In its depiction of the collective experiences of the female characters, what does the book seem to reveal about womanhood? How different would you say the treatment and role of women is today? Discuss.
5. Analyze the structure of the book. Why do you think the author assigned a chapter to each of the major characters? What points of view are represented therein? Does any single point of view seem to stand out among the rest or do you believe that the author presented a balanced point of view? Explain. Although each chapter is distinct, what do the stories have in common when considered collectively? How might your interpretation of the book differ if the author had chosen to tell the story from a single point of view?
6. Consider the setting of the book. What time periods are represented and what places are adopted as settings? Why do you think that the author chose these particular settings? What subjects and themes are illuminated via these particular choices? How does the extensive scope of the book help to unify these themes and create a cohesive treatment of the subjects therein?
7. In the chapter entitled "Quey," Fiifi tells Quey that "[the] village must conduct its business like [the] female bird" (53). What does he mean by this and why do you think that Fiifi chooses this approach?
8. Why was Quey sent to England? After his return home, why does Quey say that it was safer in England? Why might he feel that what he faces at home is more difficult than the challenges he faced in leaving home and living abroad?
9. James’s mother, Nana Yaa, says that the Gold Coast is like a pot of groundnut soup (89). What does she mean by this?
10. Why does Akosua Mensah insist to James, "I will be my own nation" (99)? What role do patriotism, heritage, and tradition play in contributing to the injustices, prejudices, and violence depicted in the book? Which other characters seem to share Akosua’s point of view?
11. Explore the theme of complicity. What are some examples of complicity found in the novel? Who is complicit in the slave trade? Where do most of the slaves come from and who trades them? Who does Abena’s father say is ultimately responsible (142)? Do you agree with him? Explain why or why not.
12. Examine the relationships between parents and children in the book. How would you characterize these relationships? Do the children seem to understand their parents and have good relationships with them and vice versa? Do the characters’ views of their parents change or evolve as they grow up? How do the characters’ relationships with their parents influence the way that they raise their own children?
13. What significance does naming have in the book? Why do some of the characters have to change or give up their names? Likewise, what do the characters’ nicknames reveal both about them and about those who give or repeat these names? What does this dialogue ultimately suggest about the power of language and naming?
14. Explore the motif of storytelling. Who are the storytellers in the book and what kinds of stories do they tell? Who is their audience? What might these examples suggest about the purpose and significance of a storytelling tradition?
15. According to Akua, where does evil begin? Where else in the book do readers find examples that support her view? What impact does Akua’s opinion have on Yaw’s lifework? Does he agree with Akua’s view or refute it? Do you agree with her? Discuss.
16. What is history according to Yaw? What does he tell his students is "the problem of history" (226)? Who does Yaw say we believe when reading historical texts and what does he say is the question we must ask when studying history? How might these ideas influence your own reading of Gyasi’s book and reshape your ideas about the historical subjects and themes treated therein?
17. Sonny says that the problem in America "wasn’t segregation but the fact that you could not, in fact, segregate" (244)? What does he mean by this? What does Sonny say that he is forced to feel because of segregation? Which of the other characters experience these same feelings and hardships? Does there seem to be any progress as the story goes on? If so, how is progress achieved? Alternatively, what stymies and slows progress in this area?
18. What is Marcus studying and why isn’t his research going well? What feeling does he indicate that he hopes to capture with his project? Why does Marcus go to Ghana and what does he learn from his experiences there? Marcus believes that "most people lived their lives on upper levels, not stopping to peer underneath (298). What does he mean by this? Where do we find examples of this elsewhere in the book? Are there any characters in the novel who defy this characterization?
19. Consider the book’s treatment of colonialism and imperialism. In the chapter entitled "Esi" at the start of the book, what does Esi’s mother tell her daughter that weakness and strength really are? How does her definition of weakness and strength correspond to the dialogue about colonialism and imperialism that runs throughout the book? Discuss how this dialogue expands into a deeper conversation about freedom and human rights. Have the issues surrounding colonialism, imperialism, freedom, and human rights featured in the book been resolved today or do they linger? If they remain, does the book ultimately offer any suggestions or advice as to how this might be remedied?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Homer & Langley
E.L. Doctorow, 2009
Random House
208 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812975635
Summary
Homer and Langley Collyer are brothers—the one blind and deeply intuitive, the other damaged into madness, or perhaps greatness, by mustard gas in the Great War.
They live as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, scavenging the city streets for things they think they can use, hoarding the daily newspapers as research for Langley’s proposed dateless newspaper whose reportage will be as prophecy.
Yet the epic events of the century play out in the lives of the two brothers—wars, political movements, technological advances—and even though they want nothing more than to shut out the world, history seems to pass through. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 6, 1931
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—A.B., Kenyon College; Columbia University
• Awards—3 National book Critics Circle Awards; National
Book Aware; PEN/Faulkner Award
• Currently—lives in Sag Harbor, New York and New York City
E.L. Doctorow, one of America's preeminent authors, has received the National Book Critics Circle Award (three times), the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Edith Wharton Citation For Fiction, and the William Dean Howells medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has also published a volume of selected essays Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution, and a play, Drinks Before Dinner, which was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival. (From the publisher.)
More
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author whose critically acclaimed and award-winning fiction ranges through his country’s social history from the Civil War to the present. Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent. He attended city public grade schools and the Bronx High School of Science where, surrounded by mathematically gifted children, he fled to the office of the school literary magazine, Dynamo, where he published his first literary effort, The Beetle, which he describes as ”a tale of etymological self-defamation inspired by my reading of Kafka.”
Doctorow attended Kenyon College in Ohio, where he studied with the poet and New Critic, John Crowe Ransom, acted in college theater productions and majored in Philosophy. After graduating with Honors in 1952 he did a year of graduate work in English Drama at Columbia University before being drafted into the army. He served with the Army of Occupation in Germany in 1954-55 as a corporal in the signal corps.
He returned to New York after his military service and took a job as a reader for a motion picture company where he said he had to read so many Westerns that he was inspired to write what became his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times. He began the work as a parody of the Western genre, but the piece evolved into a novel that asserted itself as a serious reclamation of the genre before he was through. It was published to positive reviews in 1960.
Doctorow had married a fellow Columbia drama student, Helen Setzer, while in Germany and by the time he had moved on from his reader’s job in 1960 to become an editor at the New American Library, (NAL) a mass market paperback publisher, he was the father of three children. To support his family he would spend nine years as a book editor, first at NAL working with such authors as Ian Fleming and Ayn Rand, and then, in 1964 as Editor-in-chief at The Dial Press, publishing work by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Ernest J. Gaines and William Kennedy, among others.
In 1969 Doctorow left publishing in order to write, and accepted a position as Visiting Writer at the University of California, Irvine, where he completed The Book of Daniel, a freely fictionalized consideration of the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Published in 1971 it was widely acclaimed, called a “masterpiece” by The Guardian, and it launched Doctorow into "the first rank of American writers" according to the New York Times.
Doctorow’s next book, written in his home in New Rochelle, New York, was Ragtime (1975), since accounted one of the hundred best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library Editorial Board.
Doctorow’s subsequent work includes the award winning novels World's Fair (1985), Billy Bathgate (1989), The March (2005) and Homer and Langley (2010); two volumes of short fiction, Lives of the Poets I (1984) and Sweetland Stories (2004); and two volumes of selected essays, Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution (1993) and Creationists (2006). He is published in over thirty languages. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
As with his much admired novels The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, Billy Bathgate and The March, Doctorow again creatively reconfigures and amplifies the historical record…There's a briskness to Homer & Langley that never flags, and its solitary protagonists—two lost souls—possess a half-comical, half-nightmarish fascination. They seem, at once, symbols of both American materialism and of American loneliness. Think of Melville's "isolatoes," or of all those forlorn men in shirt sleeves and the dispirited women of Edward Hopper's paintings, or of Hank Williams singing "I'm so lonesome I could cry."
Michael Dirda - Washington Post
Doctorow paints on a sweeping historical canvas, imagining the Collyer brothers as witness to the aspirations and transgressions of 20th century America; yet this book’s most powerfully moving moments are the quiet ones, when the brothers relish a breath of cool morning air, and each other’s tragically exclusive company.
O Magazine
Doctorow, whose literary trophy shelf has got to be overflowing by now, delivers a small but sweeping masterpiece about the infamous New York hermits, the Collyer brothers. When WWI hits and the Spanish flu pandemic kills Homer and Langley's parents, Langley, the elder, goes to war, with his Columbia education and his "godlike immunity to such an ordinary fate as death in a war." Homer, alone and going blind, faces a world "considerably dimmed" though "more deliciously felt" by his other senses. When Langley returns, real darkness descends on the eccentric orphans: inside their shuttered Fifth Avenue mansion, Langley hoards newspaper clippings and starts innumerable science projects, each eventually abandoned, though he continues to imagine them in increasingly bizarre ways, which he then recites to Homer. Occasionally, outsiders wander through the house, exposing it as a living museum of artifacts, Americana, obscurity and simmering madness. Doctorow's achievement is in not undermining the dignity of two brothers who share a lush landscape built on imagination and incapacities. It's a feat of distillation, vision and sympathy.
Publishers Weekly
A young man leading a privileged life in early 1900s New York goes blind. His brother goes to war and returns home a different person, reckless yet reclusive after being gassed. Their parents, never a strong presence in their lives, languish and die, and so Homer and Langley are left on their own in a Fifth Avenue apartment that slowly decays as Langley stacks it with all manner of rubbish he lovingly collects. Langley has mad schemes—he wants to publish a newspaper that needs only one issue, encapsulating all that's worth knowing—but he sees with stark clarity what's wrong with the world. Homer, a sensitive pianist, sticks with Langley. Together, through Homer's failed liaison with a housemaid, the death of longtime servants, and the internment of their Japanese housekeepers during World War II, the brothers age, their lives summing up a fading 20th-century America. This novel defines quiet desperation, captured with such precision ... that it can be a dispiriting read—as, one thinks, the author intended. The ending is wrenchingly poignant. Verdict: Doctorow in a minor key but as accomplished as ever. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
Wizardly Doctorow presents an ingenious, haunting odyssey that unfolds within a labyrinth built out of the detritus of war and excess.
Booklist
Brothers live together in a decaying New York City mansion as history marches on in the latest from Doctorow (The March, 2005, etc.). Brothers Homer and Langley share a moneyed childhood in relative bliss, although narrator Homer is slowly going blind. Then both Homer's parents succumb to the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, shortly before older brother Langley returns from service in World War I damaged by mustard gas. Increasingly eccentric (or deranged), Langley devotes his life to organizing articles from the newspapers he collects and never throws away. Homer's musical ambitions never come to much. Nor do his romantic affairs. Langley's one marriage is a disaster. But the brothers' lives touch on history, or its surface accoutrements, with a vengeance. Homer plays accompaniment for silent movies. Langley drives a Model T into the dining room. In the '20s they frequent speakeasies, where they meet a stereotypical gangster playboy who by the '50s has become more of a stereotypical Mafioso. Their African-American cook has a New Orleans jazz musician grandson. During the Depression the brothers throw "tea dances" to make extra money. The FBI whisk away a nice Japanese couple in the brothers' employ to a World War II internment camp. By the '50s Langley has acquired a television and a typewriter collection. By the '60s the brothers are taking in hippies as well as feral cats. Later Homer is dismayed to discover the young girl he once mentored as a musician and secretly loved has become an activist nun murdered in South America. As the brothers' funds shrink and the Fifth Avenue mansion they inherited falls into decay, the parallel to Gray Gardens comes to mind, particularly since an aging Homer types his memories on a Braille typewriter for a French journalist named Jacqueline. Usually a master at incorporating history into rich fiction, Doctorow offers few insights here and a narrator/hero who is never more than a cipher.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. There were several unusual sets of people who came into Homer and Langley's lives. Do you feel that Homer collected people the way that he collected objects? Why do you suppose that is or is not?
2. What do you think of Langley's Theory of Replacements? Given today's 24-hour news environment in which historical context is rarely addressed, does Langley's theory and perspective have some merit?
3. Langley is obsessive in his quest to create one universal newspaper of "seminal events". What categories were used by Langley so that the newspaper would be "eternally current, dateless"? What categories would you add or change? Why?
4. What effect did the war have on Langley — did he come back mentally damaged along with his medical problems? How would the brothers' lives have been different if there had been no war?
5. Discuss the importance of Jacqueline in the story. Would the story have been as effective without this "muse"? Do you think she really existed?
6. On page 76 Homer talks about how things were for him when he and Langley returned to the house after their night in jail. He said, "this time marked the beginning of our abandonment of the outer world." He also said that for the first time he felt that his sightlessness was a physical deformity. What was it about the night in jail, the end of their community dances, and/or their return home that caused such a drastic shift in their lives?
7. One of the novel's themes is isolation/a feeling of being separate from the world. Some characters do this by choice, others not. Discuss how Homer, Langley, and their various houseguests feel isolated from the world around them.
8. In what ways is the house a character as well as the setting? How does the house's condition reflect the brothers' physical and mental conditions?
9. The brothers' paranoia became ever-increasing, causing them to lay booby traps and close themselves in with physical as well as emotional shutters. Homer's last thoughts were, I wish I could go crazy so I might not know how badly off I am. Could Homer and Langley have been "saved" from themselves?
10. The book is told from Homer's point of view. Why do you think the author chose Homer to tell the story of the brothers? How did Homer's disability affect his telling of the story? How would the story be different if Langley had been the voice?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Homestead
Japhia Baker, 2015
Independently published
332 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781512393903
Summary
This book is about the birth of these people's lives and the birth of their town.
As everything else. Especially the birth of the land ( property ), its struggle and achievements.
It is about death and rebirth. It is about the past dead and how the future was born and how they managed to survive. The land, the property. People as we go on this great adventure in the lives. It has a few special characters that you will fall in love with and appreciate. Its also nowledgeable, and it is worth it.
Author Bio
• Birth—December 14, 1984
• Where—Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
• Education—A. D., Lincoln College of Technology
• Currently—lives in Cincinnati, Ohio
Her own words:
I Was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. I love education, always have and always will. I made good grades in school and did my best to stay on the honor roll. Failure was my worst fear. I knew education was my out, so I finished high school and went to college. I'm now working on my second book, Homestead 2. (From the author.)
Visit the author's page on Amazon.
Discussion Questions
1. Which character do you like best and why?
2. Were you surprised to find out who the king was?
3. Why do you think the things happen to Dreary the way they did?
4. What did you think about Jules?
5. Why do you think Ellie continued to work and do different things to make sure she'll be alright?
6. What did they think of Mr. Green
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees
Meredith May, 2019
Park Row Books
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780778307785
Summary
An extraordinary story of a young girl who finds solace in one of nature’s most mysterious and beguiling creatures: the honeybee.
Meredith May recalls the first time a honeybee crawled on her arm.
She was five years old, her parents had recently split and suddenly she found herself in the care of her grandfather, an eccentric beekeeper who made honey in a rusty old military bus in the yard.
That first close encounter with a bee was at once terrifying and exhilarating for May, and in that moment she discovered that everything she needed to know about life and family was right before her eyes, in the secret world of bees.
May was drawn to the art of beekeeping as an escape from her troubled reality.
Her mother had receded into a volatile cycle of madness and despair and spent most days locked away in the bedroom. It was during this pivotal time in May’s childhood that she learned to take care of herself, forged an unbreakable bond with her grandfather and opened her eyes to the magic and wisdom of nature.
The bees became a guiding force in May’s life, teaching her about family and community, loyalty and survival and the unequivocal relationship between a mother and her child.
Part memoir, part beekeeping odyssey, The Honey Bus is an remarkable story about finding home in the most unusual of places, and how a tiny, little-understood insect could save a life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Meredith May spent sixteen years at the San Francisco Chronicle, where her narrative reporting won the PEN USA Literary Award for Journalism and was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize. The Honey Bus (2019) is May's first solo book. She also coauthored I, Who Did Not Die (2017), the true story of a 13-year-old Iranian child soldier who saved an enemy combatant's life during the Iran-Iraq War.
A former professor of journalism and podcasting at Mills College in Oakland, California, May lives in San Francisco, where she rows on the Bay. She is a fifth-generation beekeeper and keeps several hives in a community garden. (Adapted from the publisher and the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A] powerful account of growing up in 1970s California.… May learned that, unlike her mother, she needed to look at what she had… rather than what was missing. May’s chronicle of overcoming obstacles and forging ahead is moving and thoughtful.
Publishers Weekly
Award-winning journalist May worked at the San Francisco Chronicle for many years, but she's also a fifth-generation beekeeper, the real thrust of this memoir.… Lots of in-house love for this one
Library Journal
A] sharply visceral memoir.
Booklist
While [May's] subject may be honeybees, they serve as a launching point for a tale of self-discovery…. A fascinating and hopeful book of family, bees, and how "even when [children] are overwhelmed with despair, nature has special ways to keep them safe."
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Honey Bus begins with a swarm-catching expedition gone wrong, and Grandpa has to rescue Meredith from stinging honey bees. Why do you think the book begins with this scene? How are the themes it sets up explored later in the story?
2. A major thread in The Honey Bus is the notion of biological versus chosen family. What kind of role do Grandpa and the bees play in Meredith’s life, and how do they shape the person she becomes? Is there someone in your own life who had a similar impact on you?
3. Meredith’s mother rarely leaves the bedroom and her mood sways between fragile and frantic. Grandpa, by contrast, is a soft-spoken Big Sur mountain man who loves the outdoors. How do these different personalities affect the way Meredith sees the world? How do they dictate family dynamics?
4. One way Meredith clings to the memory of her father is by listening to The Beatles, even though the music makes her cry. Does this resonate with your sense of music and visceral memory? Do you have songs that transport you back in time or make you feel strong emotions?
5. Reflecting on her childhood, Meredith writes:
I gravitated toward bees because I sensed that the hive held ancient wisdom to teach me the things that my parents could not. It is from the honeybee, a species that has been surviving for the last100 million years, that I learned how to persevere.
What honeybee behavior does Meredith witness that informs her understanding of human nature and her own relationships? Has nature ever taught you something about yourself?
6. What was your comfort level with honeybees at the start of the book? Did it change by the end? How?
7. The Honey Bus title was taken from a hollowed-out ramshackle army bus in the backyard where Grandpa bottled honey. When Grandpa teaches Meredith how to harvest for the first time, she writes, "The honey glowed in my hands, like a living, breathing thing. It was warm, and I loved it because it made sense when nothing else did." Throughout the story Meredith and Grandpa keep retreating to the honey bus. What role does this space play in both of their lives?
8. When Meredith’s brother Matthew is ten, he’s given his own bedroom—in a camping trailer in the yard. Meredith envies his freedom, yet Matthew remembers shivering in the winters and feeling ostracized, sequestered outside until he eventually left for college. What do you make of this living arrangement, and how did it create different family experiences for the two siblings? If Matthew wrote a memoir, how do you imagine it would differ from his sister’s?
9. In the epilogue, Meredith relocates Grandpa’s last remaining beehive to San Francisco to start an apiary of her own in a community garden. A little boy visiting on a school trip tells her with pride that his grandfather keeps bees. Meredith tells him that he’s "the luckiest boy in the world." What do you make of this final scene?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
The Honey Thief
Elizabeth Graver, 1999
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780156013901
In Brief
Elizabeth Graver's first novel, Unravelling, was hailed on publication as "exceptional" (New York Times Book Review), "a pleasure" (New Yorker), and "exquisitely poignant and sensual" (Boston Globe). Now, in her second novel, she proves herself to be a major voice in American fiction. The summer that eleven-year-old Eva is caught shoplifting (for the fourth time), her mother, Miriam, decides the only solution is to move out of the city to a quiet town in upstate New York. There, she hopes, they can have the normal life she longs for.
But Miriam is bound by a past she is trying to forget, and tensions escalate. It is only when Eva meets a reclusive beekeeper that she—and her mother—can find their way back to each other, and can begin life with renewed promise. A haunting novel of memory and desire, The Honey Thief reveals the healing power of friendship and the ineradicable bonds of mother and child. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
• Birth—July 2, 1964
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Wesleyan University; M.F.A., Washington
University (St. Louis); doctoral study, Cornell University
• Awards—see below
• Currently—teaches at Boston College
Elizabeth Graver is the author Awake, The Honey Thief, and Unravelling. Her short story collection, Have You Seen Me?, won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize.
Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories (1991, 2001); Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards (1994, 1996, 2001), The Pushcart Prize Anthology (2001), and Best American Essays (1998). Her story “The Mourning Door” was award the Cohen Prize from Ploughshares Magazine. The mother of two young daughters, she teaches English and Creative Writing at Boston College (From the author's website.)
Critics Say . . .
Traditional though not quaint, filled with elegant and straightforward language, it tells a completely contemporary story about a young girl on the verge of adolescence, even as it manages to sidestep the clichés of the genre.
Katharine Weber - York Times Book Review
That is what Graver evokes constantly here, with no pat ending or easy answers but admirable talent and truth: the sense that in raising a child we get the chance to improve upon ourself.
Andy Solomon - Boston Globe
Elizabeth Graver is rapidly proving herself one of our finest writers on the grand drama of simply growing up.... [Her] vision is magnificiently detailed and precise, offering readers a memorable and sustained glimpse at the mysterious machinations of life itself.
John Gregory Brown - Chicago Tribune
As delicately as bees build honey-combs, Graver constructs an affecting story about the costs of starting over, of hoping for better after being stung by life. "A life...could go either way, climb steadily toward its better possibilities or sprial down," Miriam says at the beginning of this sad, wise novel. By the end, the balance has tipped toward possibilities rather than disappointment. But as Graver shows, like farm-fresh honey, happiness takes time and has its risks.
John Freeman - TimeOut New York
A mother and daughter trying to overcome trauma, loneliness and an uncertain future are not a new combination in literary fiction. But in her wise and accomplished novel, Graver navigates the crossroads in her characters' lives with compassion and skill, and tells a story that touches the heart without succumbing to sentimentality or easy answers. After 11-year-old Eva Baruch is caught shoplifting for the third time, her desperate widowed mother, Miriam, decides they must move from their apartment in lower Manhattan to a place where they can start new lives. She finds a job as a paralegal in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, and they move to a farmhouse a distance from the nearest town. Miriam seems competent and self-contained, but she has been frightened since the first year of her marriage to Francis DiLeone, and the facts about her husband's fatal heart attack when Eva was six are revealed only gradually through flashbacks. Miriam is Jewish, while Francis was the son of a fanatically Catholic mother who talks to saints; the specter of inherited mental illness haunts Miriam even as she struggles to support herself and Eva and strives to keep her daughter safe and healthy. Meanwhile, a resentful Eva, suddenly transplanted to a place where she has no friends or resources, visits Burl, a shy, middle-aged loner who has quit his career as a Philadelphia lawyer to retreat to his grandparents' farm, where he raises bees. Burl's kindness and patience in teaching Eva the intricacies of bee-keeping and honey gathering help her to quell the panic attacks that presage her kleptomania, an irresistible impulse to acquire talismans against imagined disasters. When events come to crisis, Graver wisely refrains from resolving them in a neat or romantic closure. Her touch is both subtle and honest, grounded in reality but acknowledging the essence of human striving for companionship and happiness. Her ability to create nuanced, fallible characters who doggedly strive to go on with imperfect lives adds emotional resonance to this touching tale. Readers who enjoyed Amy and Isabelle will welcome the similar sensibility they find here.
Publishers Weekly
(Young Adult) Eva DiLeone, 11, has been arrested several times for shoplifting. Her mother Miriam moves them from Manhattan to a small community near Ithaca, NY, hoping for a better environment for her daughter. She has a secret that Eva knows nothing about: the girl's father, who supposedly died of a heart attack when she was six, actually committed suicide in the throes of mental illness. Miriam fears that Eva has inherited her father's imbalance. Meanwhile, it's summer, and the girl is lonely. Down the road lives a beekeeper, and Eva is drawn to the jars of honey he puts out for sale at the end of his driveway. She takes one and, a few days later, takes another. Burl, of course, knows perfectly well who has stolen his honey, but encourages Eva's interest in beekeeping and lets her help him. One day a package labeled "Live Queen Bees" arrives when Burl isn't home and Eva decides to put the new queen inside the hive. When she is badly stung and hospitalized, Miriam is furious with Burl and, confronting him, blurts out her fears. In doing so, she realizes that she must tell Eva the truth about her father and try to establish a more honest relationship with her. YAs will appreciate this realistic portrayal of a relationship between mother and daughter, and the rocky friendship of a lonely girl and a shy man with problems of his own. — Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA.
Library Journal
An agreeably unruly second novel, about a preadolescent girl's gradual indoctrination into adult imperfection and discomfort, from Graver (Unravelling, 1997, etc.). The protagonist is 11-year-old Eva Baruch, a New Yorker transplanted by her widowed mother Miriam to a rural upstate town, after Evas been caught repeatedly shoplifting. Miriam (whose viewpoint is one of four among that Graver shifts adroitly) is determined ``to weed her daughter's brain, to take out the choked, unhappy parts and let the good parts grow''for they have together suffered the loss of Eva's father Francis, following an illness far more perplexing and harrowing than Eva knows. While Miriam adjusts to a new home and job, Eva wanders the neighborhood, forming an unlikely friendship with Burl, a 40ish near-recluse who supports himself and his avocation of beekeeping as an author of miscellaneous how-to books. Though the subplot involving Burl's loveless and lonely existence deflects attention from the novel's rightful concentration on Miriam and Eva, Graver makes ingenious connections between her two protagonists' individual and familial "worlds'' and the beehive's "world under siege in ways invisible to the human eye'' (the books been expertly researched). The flashback chapters describing Miriam's hopeful marriage to the charismatic, seductively eccentric Francis, his protective love for his infant daughter, and the delusional paranoia (eventually diagnosed as bipolar disorder) that destroys him are impressively, suspensefully dramatic. Only in the thickly plotted closing pages, when all its several strands are pulled together tightly, do we feel the weight of an author's over-managing hand. And even then, the storys never less than absorbing and emotionally satisfying. It's a measure of how firmly it grips us that we wishas do its characters that everything about themselves and their lives could be perfect.
Kirkus Reviews
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Book Club Discussion Questions
1. From the first chapter on, Eva's desire to steal forms a central strand in the novel. Why do you think she has this impulse? How is it related to the events of her early childhood? To her present circumstances? What is it allowing her to work out or stave off? What do you make of the fact that Miriam also stole when she was younger, as we see in her memory of her trip to Mexico (page 23)?
2. The Honey Thief takes place both in Manhattan and in a rural town in upstate New York. How is this dual setting important? At one point, as Miriam considers moving to the country, she remembers Francis scoffing at what he called "the Geographic Cure" (page 22). Was Francis correct in thinking that changing location is no solution to life's troubles? What effects does the move eventually have on Miriam's and Eva's relationship? On their individual development?
3. What is Burl's role in the book? What does beekeeping mean to him? To Eva? To their growing friendship? What compels Eva to open up the hive toward the end of the book? The world of the bees and the social world of people in the novel intersect in many ways. How would you describe those connections?
4. "She asked her mother questions," we read of Eva, "and her mother answered, and the answers both soothed and itched, so Eva asked again and yet again" (page 200). Why is Eva so interested in hearing stories about the past? What happens to those stories (for example, the one about how Miriam and Francis met, in Chapter Five) as they are told or remembered over time? What is the function of stories or memories about the past for the different characters in the book?
5. There are many instances, in The HoneyThief, of people lying, skirting around the truth, or omitting key details. Eva neglects to tell her mother about Burl; Burl covers up for Eva when Miriam asks him if she ever stole honey; Francis withholds information from Miriam about his illness. Most important, Miriam misrepresents the past to Eva. How do you understand the motivations behind these various dodgings of the truth? Should Miriam have been more straightforward with her daughter? What made her behave the way she did? What are the obligations, in a family or friendship, to reveal or withhold the truth?
6. Author Elizabeth Berg wrote that "in The Honey Thief, Elizabeth Graver captures the mixed pain and pleasure in the mother/daughter relationship [and] illuminates the sharp-edged longings of adolescence." A number of recent novels explore relations between mothers and daughters, among them, Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, Elizabeth Strout's Amy and Isabelle, and Kaye Gibbons's Sights Unseen. What links do you see between The Honey Thief and these books or other recent novels about mothers and daughters?
7. Mental illness is a specter throughout the novel, most directly for Francis, but also for Miriam as she watches Eva grow up and worries that the child may have inherited her father's disorder. How does the novel explore what it's like to live under such a shadow? How does Francis's illness bring out or suppress parts of him? Of Miriam and Eva? Why is Miriam so worried that Eva might end up like her father? What is your evaluation of Eva's mental health?
8. Why do you think Elizabeth Graver chose to tell this story from three perspectives, instead of, say, sticking to Eva's perspective? How do the fears, hopes, and longings of Eva, Burl, and Miriam echo with or contradict each other? Why are we never given direct access to Francis's point of view? The book ends with Burl's perspective, as he watches Eva and Miriam at the observation hive. What has shifted by the end of The Honey Thief for each of these three people? How have these changes come about?
(Questions written by author.)
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The Hooker's Daughter: A Boston Family's Saga
Dale Stanten, 2011
Infinity Publishing
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 978074146402
Summary
It’s been called the "oldest profession in the world." I call it everyday life.
My mother is a hooker who turns tricks in our tiny apartment. At six years old, I shudder every time the doorbell rings and rings and rings.
In our tight-knit Jewish community, my family’s behavior is not welcomed. While my mother runs her "business," my father behaves like an ostrich with his head in the sand. He barely functions. My sister, a lesbian in an era when being gay is reprehensible, is placed into a convent and then sent to a mental institution. And there is shoplifting, scamming checks, and a stolen car ring using the rabbi’s garage.
I strut through my teenage years with a display of arrogant posturing designed to conceal the internal angst of isolation, loneliness, and fear of following in my mother’s footsteps.
My fantasy is to have a cookie-cutter life. I find my life’s mate, marry, become the perfect wife and mother, yet, in my secret heart, I am still out of step. The cookie crumbles when my husband is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. He becomes blind and suffers six grueling years. As he struggles, I struggle to keep it all together. I cry for all of us.
The Hooker’s Daughter is a memoir of a life dictated by shame and discontent. It traces the path of a young woman from childhood, through bewildered adolescence, to wife, mother, widow, and successful entrepreneur. The story is about trauma, survival, and triumph.
Author Bio
• Birth—June 20, 1043
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—RN, Lynn Hospital School of Nursing
• Currently—lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and Phoenix, Arizona
While raising her young family, Dale Stanten obtained her RN degree and practiced psychiatric nursing. She parlayed her medical and extensive sales experience to become CEO of her Destination Management Company which for twenty years organized conventions, corporate events, and meetings for local, national, and international guests. Dale conducted numerous educational seminars and assisted in developing a tourism college degree program.
Dale serves on the North Shore Board of Juvenile Scholarship Aid, volunteered as a Big Sister, and is an active member of Power of Women, National Association of Women on the Rise, and The Arizona Humanities Consortium for the Arts. A life-long learner, she studies Kabbalah and Torah and shares her personal journey to encourage others to rise above their circumstances, no matter how difficult, using their inner strength to determine the course of their own lives. Dale resides in Boston and Phoenix with her husband. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Her story is about how to conquer challenges beyond those that have been made socially acceptable by society. The book is a study in human relations and emotions...Loved It. A Must Read!
Debolina Raja Gupta - BookPleasures.com
This is an engaging well-written and spectacular book and can definitely be an inspiration to those that read it. A Great Story!
Joyce Oscar - BookPleasures.com
This book does indeed get 5 stars from me. I feel like it’s a story many need to read because it shows us how our choices affect others and how others choices affect us. There are very few people who wouldn’t be affected by this book in a good way.
Katie Hal - You Brew My Tea
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think that Dale turned out to be a successful entrepreneur, given her very traumatic childhood? How much do you think is genetic (nature) verses environment and relationships with other people (nurture)?
2. Do you think there are life lessons to be learned from Dale’s dramatic life story?
3. Describe Bubbbe’s unusual behavior. How do you think it affected Mae’s life?
4. Considering the family dynamics, what challenger did the two sisters face?
5. How did Dale overcome the challenges she faced being the daughter of a hooker?
6. In the 50’s and 60’s why was being a hooker more acceptable than being gay?
7. What does the book tell us about "sister bonds?"
8. What character traits—both good and bad—do you think Dale learned from her parents and how do you think those traits shaped her life?
9. From both Mae’s and Art’s viewpoint why did their relationship survive?
10. What makes a survivor?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Hopefuls
Jennifer Close, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101875612
Summary
A brilliantly funny novel about ambition and marriage from the best-selling author of Girls in White Dresses, The Hopefuls tells the story of a young wife who follows her husband and his political dreams to Washington, D.C., a city of idealism, gossip, and complicated friendships among the young aspiring elite.
When Beth arrives in D.C., she hates everything about it: the confusing traffic circles, the ubiquitous Ann Taylor suits, the humidity that descends each summer. At dinner parties, guests compare their security clearance levels. They leave their BlackBerrys on the table. They speak in acronyms. And once they realize Beth doesn't work in politics, they smile blandly and turn away.
Soon Beth and her husband, Matt, meet a charismatic White House staffer named Jimmy, and his wife, Ashleigh, and the four become inseparable, coordinating brunches, birthdays, and long weekends away. But as Jimmy’s star rises higher and higher, the couples’ friendship—and Beth’s relationship with Matt—is threatened by jealousy, competition, and rumors.
A glorious send-up of young D.C. and a blazingly honest portrait of a marriage, this is the finest work yet by one of our most beloved writers. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1979
• Where—Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., Boston College; M.F.A., The New School
• Currently—lives in Washington, DC
Jennifer Close is the American author of four novels, including her well known 2011 debut, Girls in White Dresses.
Close was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and attended Boston College. After earning her B.A., she headed to New York to get her M.F.A. at The New School where, according to an interview in the Washington Post, she wrote in a male voice to "avoid being too revelatory."
After an internship at The New Yorker, she spent another year at Vogue, then landed a job with a startup magazine called Portfolio. She rose to become the assistant managing editor before the magazine closed in 2009. It was at Portfolio, while waiting for proofs to be delivered late at night, that she began typing stories about her life and the lives of her friends who found themselves on an endless cycle of weddings, showers, and bachelorette parties—events which left them exhausted and broke. Those stories eventually became the 2011 novel, Girls in White Dresses.
When her boyfriend and now husband, Tim Hartz, joined the Obama White House, Close moved to D.C. to be with him. That life has also proven a rich lode to mine—this time for her fourth book, The Hopefuls.
Novels
2011 - Girls in White Dresses
2013 - The Smart One
2013 - The Things We Need
2016 - The Hopefuls
Book Reviews
Ambition, political power and charisma take center stage in Close’s riveting page turner about two couples who meet in DC—and the toll one pair’s success takes on the other.
Entertainment Weekly
A fascinating drama about relationships, loyalty, the price of aspirations and success, The Hopefuls will surely ensnare you into this world from page one—and hold you there, tightly, until the final word.
Refinery29
The author of Girls in White Dresses delivers her latest novel about a couple navigating the political ladder in D.C. Inspired by Close's own experiences moving to Washington for her husband's work on the Obama campaign, The Hopefuls is blisteringly honest about the circus of American politics and Washington's exhausting culture of competition—one that that renders people outside of political circles virtually invisible.
Meredith Turits - Elle
If you love and miss The West Wing, this is one book you’ll want to pick up. Jennifer Close gets so many things about DC and its culture so very right… She also knows political campaigns inside out – the bad and the ugly as well as the good. She writes honestly and convincingly about those aspects of marriage and friendship, too.
Claire Handscombe - BookRiot
[I]nitially snappy and engaging, it becomes a slog once Beth follows Matt to Texas, where he begins work on Jimmy’s local campaign.... A welcome tension returns to the story...but not enough to recover [from] the book’s tedious middle pages.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Close lays the sacrifices and successes of a marriage bare with razor-sharp prose and keen wit. Fans of Lianne Moriarty’s relatable heroines will adore fish-out-of-water Beth, while political junkies will appreciate an insider’s view of a small campaign.... The Hopefuls is unflinchingly honest and utterly compelling. —Stephanie Turza
Booklist
Close's depictions of troubled marriages are less interesting than her explorations of troubled friendships. Beth's tone veers between snark and whine, and to make matters worse, she couldn't care less about politics. This comedy about political insiders is surprisingly cheerless and weirdly apolitical.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Horse Heaven
Jane Smiley, 2000
Random House
614 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780449005415
Summary
Spanning two years on the circuit, from Kentucky and California to New York and Paris, Horse Heaven puts us among trainers and track brats, horse-obsessed girls, nervy jockeys, billionaire owners and restless wives.
Here is the trainer of dazzling integrity and his opposite: a wicked prince of the tract, headed for still another swindle; here are the gamblers and hangers-on. And in an amazing feat of imagination, here are the magnificent Thoroughbreds themselves, from the filly orphaned at birth to the brown horse who always wins by a nose, a lovable "claimer" who passes from owner to owner on a heartwrenching journey down from the winner's circle.
All the constant excitement of racing courses through a novel that opens up a fascinating world even as it moves us with its exploration of wanting, loving, and striving; of our mysterious bond with animals; and, above all, of our profound desire to connect—emotionally, sexually, spiritually—with each other. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September 26, 1949
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Rasied—Webster Grove, Missouri
• Education—B.A., Vassar College; M.A., M.F.A, and Ph.D., Iowa University
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize, 1992; National Book Critics Circle Award, 1991
• Currently—lives in Northern California
Jane Smiley is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Age of Grief, The Greenlanders, Ordinary Love & Good Will, A Thousand Acres (for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize), and Moo. She lives in northern California. (From the publisher.)
More
Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a B.A. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar.
Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in the Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. It was adapted into a film of the same title in 1997. In 1995 she wrote her sole television script produced, for an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Her novella The Age of Grief was made into the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005), is a non-fiction meditation on the history and the nature of the novel, somewhat in the tradition of E. M. Forster's seminal Aspects of the Novel, that roams from eleventh century Japan's Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji to twenty-first century Americans chick lit.
From 1981 to 1996, she taught undergrad and graduate creative writing workshops at Iowa State University. She continued teaching at ISU even after moving her primary residence to California.
In 2001, Smiley was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Witty, energetic.... It's deeply satisfying to read a work of fiction so informed about its subject and so alive to every nuance and detail.... [Smiley's] final chapters have a wonderful restorative quality.
New York Times Book Review
One of the premier novelists of her generation, possessed of a mastery of craft and an uncompromising vision that grow more powerful with each book.... Racing's eclectic mix of classes and personalities provides Smiley with fertile soil...expertly juggling storylines, she investigates the sexual, social, psychological, and spiritual problems of wealthy owners, working-class bettors, trainers on the edge of financial ruin, and, in a typically bold move, horses.
Washington Post
The tension and frustration of the racing life can be waring in Horse Heaven, and yet Ms. Smiley dispenses happiness at the novel's conclusion. Her skill at psychological probing is splendid; her images...a colt's nostrils round and open like the blossoms of a fox glove are even better. Ms. Jane Smiley's chunky book Horse Heaven resembles a bale of hay. Chewable, fragrant and thick, this is the good stuff, the first cutting.
Sally Eckhoff - Wall Street Journal
The Chinese calendar aside, 2000 may be the Year of the Horse. Almost neck and neck with Alyson Hagy's Keeneland, this novel about horses and their breeders, owners, trainers, grooms, jockeys, traders, bettors and other turf-obsessed humans is another winner. Smiley, it turns out, knows a prodigious amount about Thoroughbreds, and she is as good at describing the stages of their lives, their temperaments and personalities as she is in chronicling the ambitions, financial windfalls and ruins, love affairs, partings and reconciliations of her large cast of human characters. With settings that range from California and Kentucky to Paris, the novel covers two years in which the players vie with each other to produce a mount that can win high-stakes races. Readers will discover that hundreds of things can go wrong with a horse, from breeding through birth, training and racing, and that every race has variables and hazards that can produce danger and death, as well as the loss of millions of dollars. (A scene in which one horse stumbles and sets off a chain reaction of carnage is heartbreaking.) Characters who plan, scheme, connive and yearn for a winner include several greedy, impetuous millionaires and their wives; one trainer who is a model of rectitude, and another who has found Jesus but is crooked to the core; two per-adolescent, horse-obsessed kids; a knockout black woman whose beauty is the entrance key to the racing world; the horses themselves (cleverly, Smiley depicts a horse communicator who can see into the equine mind); and one very sassy Jack Russell dog. Written with high spirits and enthusiasm, distinguished by Smiley's wry humor (as in Moo), the novel gallops into the home stretch without losing momentum. Fans of A Thousand Acres may feel that Smiley has deserted the realm of serious literature for suspense and romance, but this highly readable novel shows that she can perform in both genres with elan.
Publishers Weekly
Smiley, author of nine earlier works of fiction including The Age of Grief and A Thousand Acres (a Pulitzer Prize winner), has written the Gone with the Wind of horse books. Those involved in the equestrian world will experience a thrill of recognition when hearing about the various types of trainers, owners, and, of course, the horses themselves. The trainers include a Zen practitioner who considers each horse a koan to be solved; a crooked trainer who gets religion and repents, however briefly; and a married trainer who falls in love with the wife of an owner. The horses are a rogue stallion, a timid mare, and an amazingly focused gelding named Limitless. The horses and people are both talented and flawed yet all find redemption. Mary Beth Hurt is an exceptional reader. Highly recommended for all public libraries. —Patsy Gray, Huntsville P.L.
Library Journal
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. Introducing her work as a "comic epic poem in prose," Ms. Smiley warns her readers that the characters and events in Horse Heaven are no more than "figments of the author's imaginings," and that "their characteristics as represented bear no relation to real life." Discuss the levels of irony in her remark. Also, howdoes the description of genre fit or mislead?
2. Most characters in Horse Heaven are struggling with the issue of identity. What makes the matter more pressing for some than for others? What approaches frustrate or facilitate attempts at clarity? How is the issue different for the horses than for the humans? What role do places and other beings play as a character tries to navigate the world within?
3. Ms. Smiley plays with many modes of humor throughout Horse Heaven, from slapstick to the absurd to keen satire. Provide examples of each. How do they blend into one another? Are there moments of gallows humor? If not, why? To what use does Ms. Smiley put her comedic turns? How much do they color the novel?
4. What cherished American myths does Horse Heaven satirize, if not debunk? Which myths does it uphold? Does Ms. Smiley tell a distinctly American story as well as one capable of resonating elsewhere? If so, what allows her subject to transcend place and time?
5. Ms. Smiley has discussed the primacy of the individual in the world of horse racing, yet her novel is replete with relationships of every sort. Discuss the connection that exists between the social and private realms. How does one shape and define the other? What themes surface in exploring the connection between the two?
6. Fate and fortuity are opposing forces in Horse Heaven. Which characters choose to see themselves as players in a destiny authored by some mysterious other? Which see the exercise of their individual will as the shaping force in their lives? How do self-deception and honesty factor into each perspective? Explain how the ways and world of horses shed light on these matters.
7. What motivates characters such as Farley Jones and Buddy Crawford to turn to religion? How does their work express or contradict their beliefs? Where else does religion surface in the novel? Should the benevolent force apparently at work throughout the novel be construed in religious terms?
8. Explain how desire operates as a persistent, enigmatic force throughout Horse Heaven. Which characters bow to it, and which manage to control it? Is there more joy in the wanting or the receiving? Does Oscar Wilde's quip about the tragedy of getting what one wants apply? How and to whom?
9. Ms. Smiley has celebrated the racetrack as a storyteller's paradise. Which characters prove most adept at spinning fact into fiction? How do they use that talent? What motivates the mythologizing and romanticizing of horses—and some humans—that takes place throughout the novel? What is it about the world of horses that makes possible, if not credible, such an array of tall tales?
10. Ms. Smiley has stressed the need for novelists to engage readers by imaginatively explicating the social, cultural, economic, and political reality of a particular moment. What is the significance of her choice of historical moment in Horse Heaven? What themes are amplified in Ms. Smiley's handling of the years 1997 through 1999? Where do the worlds of horses and politics meet? How do race and gender factor into the novel? Does the world of horses offer a complete and complex microcosm? If not, what's missing?
11. After describing thoroughbreds as exuberant and sensitive creatures of many opinions and a deep intelligence, the omniscient narrator informs us that they have "too much of every lively quality rather than too little." How do characters such as Epic Steam and Residual live up to this description?
12. Discuss the arc of Justa Bob's life. Who are his literary forerunners? How does Ms. Smiley's handling of the character achieve pathos while avoiding bathos?
13. Which points outlined in Farley's "The Tibetan Book of Thoroughbred Training" are validated by the novel's close? Which prove wanting? How would you amend the list to capture the spirit of Horse Heaven?
14. How does Ms. Smiley's careful chronicling of the ins and outs of horse breeding and training, compare with our insoluble debates about the roles of genetics and environment in shaping who we are? Do you believe that nature or nurture has the upperhand in defining a horse? A human? Why?
15. Ms. Smiley has encouraged those readers overwhelmed by the array and number of characters simply to keep an eye on the horses. Thus, time with the novel evokes time at the racetrack. How else does the structure of the novel complement its content? Provide examples.
16. One is tempted to credit much of the drama in Horse Heaven to coincidence, yet the intricacies of the plot suggest something else. What does Ms. Smiley's chronicling of many individuals' wills in conflict say about that which we often lazily call luck?
17. Many have lauded the complexity and pluck of Ms. Smiley's horses by comparing them to humans. Do her horses maintain their, well, horseness, or are they—through an act of anthropomorphism—transformed into creatures defined by human fears, desires, frustrations, etcetera? Discuss the dynamic relationship between horses and humans.
18. Find and discuss the passages in Horse Heaven where you see Ms. Smiley working in the grand tradition of the novel's heyday—the middle of the nineteenth century. Can you detect the influence of Dickens, Trollope, or Balzac? Where? To what other writers and literary traditions does Ms. Smiley tip her hat? How is Horse Heaven a novel of our time and of another?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Hot Milk
Deborah Levy, 2016
Bloomsbury USA
224 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781620406694
Summary
I have been sleuthing my mother's symptoms for as long as I can remember. If I see myself as an unwilling detective with a desire for justice, is her illness an unsolved crime? If so, who is the villain and who is the victim?
Sofia, a young anthropologist, has spent much of her life trying to solve the mystery of her mother's unexplainable illness. She is frustrated with Rose and her constant complaints, but utterly relieved to be called to abandon her own disappointing fledgling adult life.
She and her mother travel to the searing, arid coast of southern Spain to see a famous consultant—their very last chance—in the hope that he might cure her unpredictable limb paralysis.
But Dr. Gomez has strange methods that seem to have little to do with physical medicine, and as the treatment progresses, Sofia's mother's illness becomes increasingly baffling. Sofia's role as detective—tracking her mother's symptoms in an attempt to find the secret motivation for her pain—deepens as she discovers her own desires in this transient desert community.
Hot Milk is a profound exploration of the sting of sexuality, of unspoken female rage, of myth and modernity, the lure of hypochondria and big pharma, and, above all, the value of experimenting with life; of being curious, bewildered, and vitally alive to the world. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1959
• Where—South Africa
• Education—Dartington College of Arts
• Currently—lives in London, England, UK
Deborah Levy, born in South Africa, is is a British playwright, novelist, and poet. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and she is the author of several novels including, Swimming Home and Hot Milk, both of which were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Life
Levy's father was a member of the African National Congress and an academic and historian. The family emigrated to Wembley Park, in 1968. Her parents divorced in 1974.
Work
Levy trained at Dartington College of Arts, leaving in 1981 to write a number of plays, including Pax, Heresies for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and others which are published in Levy: Plays 1 (Methuen). She also served as director and writer for Manact Theatre Company in Cardiff, Wales.
Her first novel Beautiful Mutants, came out in 1986; her second, Swallowing Geography, in 1993; and her third, Billy and Girl, in 1996.
Swimming Home, her 2011 novel, was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. It was also shortlisted for the UK Author of the Year prize at the 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards and for the 2013 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize.
Levy published a short story collection, Black Vodka, which was shortlisted for the BBC International Short Story Award 2012, and in 2016 she released her fourth novel, Hot Milk, which was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
She has always written across a number of art forms (including collaborations with visual artists) and was a Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1989 to 1991. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/24/2014.)
Book Reviews
Deborah Levy's gorgeous new novel, Hot Milk…is a tale of how Sofia uses strength of will, rigorous self-examination and her anthropological skills to understand and begin to repair things that are holding her back.... It's a pleasure to be inside Sofia's insightful, questioning mind…. Ms. Levy has set a seemingly simple story against a backdrop thrumming with low-key menace and sly, dry humor, sometimes in the same paragraph.... As a series of images, the book exerts a seductive, arcane power, rather like a deck of tarot cards, every page seething with lavish, cryptic innuendo. Yet, as a narrative it is wanting.... The symbols here, although entrancing individually, feel at once overdetermined and underpurposed. They never fully cohere into a satisfying web.
Sarah Lyall - New York Times
In Hot Milk—think of mother's milk, the milk of human kindness, spoiled milk, "long-life milk" processed to last in hot climates and the breast-shaped marble dome of the Gomez Clinic—Levy has spun a web of violent beauty and poetical ennui. As a series of images, the book exerts a seductive, arcane power, rather like a deck of tarot cards, every page seething with lavish, cryptic innuendo.
Leah Hager Cohen - New York Times Book Review
Levy’s language is precise. The absurdities of her style seem scattershot at first, but yield a larger pattern: a commentary on debt and personal responsibility, family ties and independence.
Washington Post
A powerful novel of the interior life, which Levy creates with a vividness that recalls Virginia Woolf . . . Transfixing.
Erica Wagner - Guardian (UK)
Exquisite prose.... Hot Milk is perfectly crafted, a dream-narrative so mesmerising that reading it is to be under a spell. Reaching the end is like finding a piece of glass on the beach, shaped into a sphere by the sea, that can be held up and looked into like a glass-eye and kept, in secret, to be looked at again and again.
Suzanne Joinson - Independent (UK)
Among the questions posed in this heady new novel: Is Sofia's mother, Rose, sick or a hypochondriac who's feverish for attention? And more important, can the frustrated Sofia break the chains of familial devotion and live for herself?
Oprah Magazine
Highbrow/Brilliant. [An] intensely interior but highly charged new novel about family, hypochondria, Spain, Greece, and all kinds of sex.
New York Magazine
Hot Milk is a complicated, gorgeous work.
Marie Claire
A superbly crafted novel that is an inherently fascinating and consistently compelling read from beginning to end, Hot Milk clearly reveals author Deborah Levy as an exceptionally gifted storyteller
Midwest Book Review
The author of the elusive, powerful novel Swimming Home has another tale of family dysfunction. In the unforgiving heat of southern Spain, wayward anthropologist Sofia Papastergiadis delivers her mother into the hands of an eccentric doctor whom they hope can diagnose the mysterious illness that has taken over her body.
Elle.com
(Starred review.) it’s Sofia’s frantic, vulnerable voice that makes this novel a singular read. Her offbeat and constantly surprising perspective treats the reader to writing such as “we dressed as though there weren’t a dead snake in the room.”... Levy has crafted a great character in Sofia, and witnessing a pivotal point in her life is a pleasure.
Publishers Weekly
The claustrophobic, all-encompassing dysfunction of Sofia's self-involved circle of friends and family is wrapped in the oppressive heat of Spain and the narrowing possibilities that she can (or wants to) break free. [Hot Milk] draws in readers with beautiful language and unexpected moments of humor and shock. —Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Kinship, gender, Medusas—this rich new novel from a highly regarded British writer dazzles and teases with its many connections while exposing the double-edged sword of mother-daughter love.... In her scintillating, provocative new book, Levy combines intellect and empathy to impressively modern effect.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Hot Milk...then take off on your own:
1. Readers meet Sofia just when she's dropped her laptop: "My laptop has all my life in it,” she says. “If it is broken, so am I." In what way is Sofia broken—and Just how broken is she?
2. How would you describe Sofia's mother Rose? Of course, it's hard to describe her without dissecting the mother/daughter relationship. How would you describe their bond (or perhaps in Sofia's case, bondage)?
3. Sofia observes of herself:
I am living a vague, temporary life in the equivalent of a shed on the fringe of a village. What has stopped me from building a two-story house in the center of the village?
Care to comment on that thought? What has stopped Sofia? Does her imagined "shed" hold any relevance to your life?
4. In what way might both Sofia and her mother be considered unreliable characters? How about Dr. Gomez? Is he unreliable...or simply unorthodox? Perhaps a little of both?
5. Talk about the setting of the story: Almeria, Spain, where the sea is oily and filled with stinging jelly fish, and the land is "wind-beaten and sun-baked,...cracked and dry.” In what way, if at all, does this inhospitable landscape shape the characters and their actions? Did the atmosphere lead to a sense of menace or dread while reading the novel?
6. During her stay in Spain, Sofia is stung, repeatedly, by Medusas. What is the symbolic significance of the Spanish name for jellyfish? What are the connections to Greek mythology?
7. Consider, too, the title and its significance. What might milk suggest...or hot milk at that?
8. What is behind Sofia's often risky behavior: stealing a fish, freeing a dog, smashing a vase, and taking one rather casual lover then another lover?
9. Gradually, Sofia begins to repair her life. Describe the process, or individual steps, that transform her. Consider, for instance, her anthropological skills: how does she put them to use in her life?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
Hotel du Lac
Anita Brookner, 1984
Knopf Doubleday
184 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780679759324
In Brief
Winner, 1984 Booker Prize
In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question "Why love?" It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a psudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac promises to resore her to her senses.
But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love's casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
• Birth—July 16, 1928
• Where—Herne Hill (outside London), UK
• Education—B.A., Kings College; Ph.D. Courtauld Institute of
Art (London)
• Awards—Booker Prize, 1984
• Currently—lives in the UK
Anita Brookner is the author of twenty beautifully crafted novels, including Falling Slowly, Undue Influence, and Hotel du Lac, which won the Booker Prize. An international authority on eighteenth-century painting, she became the first female Slade Professor at Cambride University. She lives in London.
More
Anita Brookner is an English novelist and art historian. Her father, Newson Bruckner, was a Polish immigrant, and her mother, Maude Schiska, was a singer whose father had emigrated from Poland and founded a tobacco factory. Maude changed the family's surname to Brookner owing to anti-German sentiment in England. Anita Brookner had a lonely childhood, although her grandmother and uncle lived with the family, and her parents, secular Jews, opened their house to Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution during the 1930s and World War II. Brookner, an only child, has never married and took care of her parents as they aged.
Brookner was educated at James Allen's Girls' School. She received a BA in History from King's College London in 1949, and a doctorate in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1953. In 1967 she became the first woman to hold the Slade professorship at Cambridge University. She was promoted to Reader at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1977, where she worked until her retirement in 1988. Brookner was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1990. She is a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge.
Brookner published her first novel, A Start In Life, in 1981 at the age of 53. Since then she has published approximately a novel every year; her fourth book, Hotel Du Lac, published in 1984, won the Booker Prize.
Brookner is highly regarded as a stylist. Her fiction, which has been heavily influenced by her own life experiences, explores themes of isolation, emotional loss and difficulties associated with 'fitting in' in English society. Her novels typically depict intellectual, middle-class women, who suffer isolation, emotional loss and disappointments in love. Many of Brookner's characters are the children of European immigrants who experience difficulties with fitting into English life; a number of characters appear to be of Jewish descent.
(From Wikipedia.)
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Critics Say . . .
(Older works have few, in any, mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble customer reviews for helpful ones.)
One of Brookner’s earliest works, and some think her finest, this slender book contains some beautiful and very funny writing. Edith Hope, a romance novelist, who writes “under a more thrusting name” (oh, really, that is so good), finds herself exiled to a posh but sedate Swiss hotel.
A LitLovers LitPick (Aug. '07)
Brookner's most absorbing novel…wryly realistic…graceful and attractive.
Anne Tyler - The New York Times Book Review
The winner of the 1984 Booker Prize, this novel tells the story of Edith Hope, 40, unmarried and distraught over a failed love, who is persuaded by friends to go to the quiet, respectable Hotel du Lac in Switzerland. A writer of romantic fiction, Hope becomes enmeshed in the lives of the other guests. Noting that the delivery was perhaps more important than specific events, an earlier PW review called Brookner "insidiously observant, so soft of voice the reader must listen closely for the wry wit and sly humor. She is poignantly moving."
Publishers Weekly
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Book Club Discussion Questions
1. Edith describes her own personality as "rather dim and trusting" [p. 9]. Do the events of the book bear her assessment out, or does her character prove to be darker and more subversive than she herself might care to admit? Is her willingness to be commandeered by Mrs. Pusey, Monica, or Penelope an indication of passivity, or does it represent a need in its own right?
2. What the Hotel du Lac offers, Edith says, is "a mild form of sanctuary" [p. 14], but she later refers to it as an "institution" [p. 106]. Which comparison is more accurate? Have the Englishwomen at the hotel been cast off, as Edith suggests, or are they seeking refuge?
3. Is Edith an "unreliable narrator"—that is, do we have to be wary of taking her narration and interpretation of events at face value? Are there areas of her life about which she is not willing to tell the truth, even in this intimate narrative? If so, is this apparent only when we look at her letters to David? Can the letters be seen as an edited version of the "truthful" story given the reader, or is the narrative itself unreliable and evasive?
4. How much about David's character can be gleaned from Brookner's narrative? Why is a man of David's type so attractive to Edith? Is his very inaccessibility part of the attraction? What sort of marriage do David and his wife share?
5. Edith's friends accuse her of being a romantic. Do you find this assessment to be accurate? Why has Edith chosen to be a writer of romance novels, and how does this choice affect her actions? How does the "romance" theme fit into Brookner's ending? Is Edith's return to David at the end of the novel a romantic or an anti-romantic gesture? Do you believe that once Edith returns to London, she will continue to produce the same type of fiction?
6. Edith tells Mr. Neville that she thinks about happiness "all the time" [p. 94]. She also sketches out for him her own idea of happiness. Does Mr. Neville, in spite of his failure to win her over to his way of thinking, nonetheless influence her in making her adjust her ideas of happiness in the direction of his own? Is the ideal of "happiness" as central to her life after her encounter with him as it was before? Has her definition of it changed?
7. In her dealings with Monica and with Iris and Jennifer Pusey, Edith adopts the stance of an ironic observer who sees all the grotesque elements of the people around her. Do you believe these people to be as grotesque and ridiculous as Edith describes them, or are we perhaps seeing them through Edith's own distorting lens? If so, why does Edith feel the need to distance people and make them less human? Does Edith intentionally attach herself to people such as Penelope—apparently her best friend but whom she also deeply scorns—who make her feel superior? How much real insight do you think Edith has into Penelope's character? Does Edith tend to "make up" characters not only in her fiction but in her own life? What about Geoffrey Long? Are we, as readers, ever accorded a glimpse of Geoffrey as a real person who feels pain or love? Why does Edith feel compelled to mock him?
8. How has Edith's unhappy childhood contributed toward making her who she is as an adult? It is clear that her mother has warped her feelings. In what way has Edith accepted the definitions of sex, femininity, and motherhood offered by her mother? Is her dislike of other women a legacy from her mother, or is it due to real duplicity and competitiveness in the women of her acquaintance? Is the apparently strong bond between Iris and Jennifer finally attractive to Edith, or does she find it fearsome and devouring?
9. "To Penelope, men were conquests, attributes, but they were also enemies.... She considered men to be a contemptible sex" [pp. 57-58]. Penelope and Edith's other women friends in London play a conventional sexual game with very firm though unwritten "rules." What are those rules and in what way has Edith transgressed them? Is Edith doomed to remain an emotional outsider unless she conforms to these rules?
10. One technique that Brookner utilizes expertly is that of making the landscape and the weather mirror the central character's feelings. How is this technique employed in Hotel du Lac? Is the landscape, including the hotel itself, a blank slate on which Edith imposes her own emotions, or does its peculiar character actually impose itself upon Edith's own mind?
11. Edith spends much space in her letters to David describing people's clothing. What does this emphasis say about Edith's relationship with David? Edith believes that her "brief" for David is "to amuse, to divert, to relax" [p. 114]. What does this tell us about David and about Edith herself? Why does Edith feel unable to mail her letters to David? Why, knowing that she will not mail them, does she feel compelled to write them? How does the letter announcing her engagement to Neville differ from the earlier ones in tone and content? In her telegram to David at the end of the novel, why does Edith change the words "coming home" to "returning" [p. 184]?
12. Edith's friends tell her that she looks like Virginia Woolf, and this resemblance has colored her own view of herself. What does Virginia Woolf represent to Edith? Why is this resemblance flattering to her? What emotional limitations does it encourage her to give in to? What is the significance of Edith's pen name, Vanessa Wilde?
13. Though Edith seldom discusses sex even with herself, sex is at the novel's very core. How have Edith's sexual feelings molded her life? How do they lead to her final decision? What importance does sex have in Edith's relationships with Neville and with Geoffrey? How does the consciousness of sex affect her dealings with the women characters in the book?
14. The first few pages of Edith's narrative contain sidelong references to works by Yeats, Eliot, Shakespeare, and other authors. What does Brookner reveal about Edith's character by giving her this propensity?
15. Edith readily admits to preferring men to women, but as the novel progresses, we see the beginnings of a more inclusive, sophisticated attitude, a willingness to include women in her emotional world, even to offer them her friendship. How does this manifest itself in the text?
16. What does Edith's final decision to go back to David signify? Do you believe that it constitutes triumph, defeat, or resignation for Edith? In rejecting Neville, what interpretation of herself does she reject? What longed-for things does she give up? You might want to refer to another of Anita Brookner's recent novels, Lewis Percy, which handles a similar situation; the novels of Barbara Pym are also of interest in examining such questions.
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War
Amanda Vaill, 2014
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374172992
Summary
A spellbinding story of love amid the devastation of the Spanish Civil War
Madrid, 1936. In a city blasted by a civil war that many fear will cross borders and engulf Europe—a conflict one writer will call "the decisive thing of the century"—six people meet and find their lives changed forever.
Ernest Hemingway, his career stalled, his marriage sour, hopes that this war will give him fresh material and new romance; Martha Gellhorn, an ambitious novice journalist hungry for love and experience, thinks she will find both with Hemingway in Spain. Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, idealistic young photographers based in Paris, want to capture history in the making and are inventing modern photojournalism in the process. And Arturo Barea, chief of Madrid’s loyalist foreign press office, and Ilsa Kulcsar, his Austrian deputy, are struggling to balance truth-telling with loyalty to their sometimes compromised cause—a struggle that places both of them in peril.
Hotel Florida traces the tangled wartime destinies of these three couples against the backdrop of a critical moment in history. As Hemingway put it, "You could learn as much at the Hotel Florida in those years as you could anywhere in the world."
From the raw material of unpublished letters and diaries, official documents, and recovered reels of film, Amanda Vaill has created a narrative of love and reinvention that is, finally, a story about truth: finding it out, telling it, and living it—whatever the cost. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1948-49
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Radcliffe College (now Harvard University)
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Amanda Vaill is an American writer and editor, noted for her non-fiction. A graduate of Radcliffe College (now Harvard University), she worked in publishing before becoming a writer full-time in 1992. In the 1970s Vaill was an editor at Viking Press alongside Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She lives in New York City.
Writing
In 1995 Vaill published Everybody Was So Young, a biography of Gerald and Sara Murphy, prominent 1920s socialites of the French Rivera. It was nominated for the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. She also contributed to the catalogue for Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy, an exhibition mounted by the Williams College Museum of Art, and also shown at the Yale Art Gallery and the Dallas Museum of Art.
Her next book in 2006 was Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins, for which she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She later wrote Something to Dance About, a 2009 PBS documentary about Robbins life and work, which was part of PBS's American Masters series. Her screenwriting was nominated for the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming. The film went on to win both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award.
In 2008 Vaill co-wrote a book on her grandfather, the jeweller Seaman Schepps.
Her 2014 book, Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War, follows a group of writers and photographers (including Hemmingway) who covered the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.
Vaill has also written for Esquire, New York Observer, Talk, Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, among others. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/34/2014.)
Book Reviews
Magical and meticulous... [Hotel Florida] is a masterful reconstruction of one of the most tumultuous conflicts in 20th Century Europe.
Jane Ciabattari - BBC.com
[An] energetic group biography.... [Vaill] is a diligent researcher and a spirited writer who confidently inhabits and channels her historical characters. Her set pieces are numerous and well turned.
Charles Trueheart - American Scholar
During Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.... Vaill vividly recounts specific scenes of dying Spanish soldiers and citizens captured photographically by the journalists as well as deftly describing how Gellhorn insinuated herself into Hemingway’s marriage.... Beautifully told, Vaill’s story captures the timeless immediacy of warfront reporting with the universal struggle to stay in love, just before the Nazis permanently changed the European landscape. 16p. b&w illus
Publishers Weekly
The tragic Spanish Civil War (1936–39) began as a rebellion of the military against the elected government and became a rehearsal for world war.... In the midst of this, left-leaning journalists and photographers flocked to besieged Madrid's Hotel Florida to report on the Loyalist fight against Fascism..... The kind of history that readers will say "reads like a novel." —Stewart Desmond, New York
Library Journal
Vaill follows a handful of characters...through the Spanish Civil War.... Although it will be difficult for readers to turn their eyes away from the power couple (Hemingway and Gellhorn), Vaill does a good job of getting us deeply interested in the lives...of the others.... War, sex, friendship, betrayal, celebrity, rivalry, jealousy, idealism, foolishness and foppery—all this and more gather in the lobby of Madrid's Hotel Florida.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Hotel Florida focuses on the Spanish Civil War experiences of six extraordinarily talented, courageous individuals. What was it about the social or political backgrounds of these six that drew them to the Loyalist cause? What strengths and flaws did they bring to their work? Who waspragmatic, idealistic, selfish, altruistic?
2. In her opening note, Amanda Vaill writes that Hotel Florida is about how each of the main characters relates to the truth—“whether, for each of them, living the truth becomes just as important as telling it, to the world, to each other, and to themselves.” How did each of them tell the truth and live the truth? What is Vaill’s intent in echoing the first line of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls in the first line of Hotel Florida?
3. The United States, Britain, and France chose not to become involved in the Spanish Civil War, despite the graphic evidence of civilian suffering contained in dispatches from battered cities and burning villages. Was this a wise policy? What kinds of support might have been provided? How were both sides—the Nationalists and the Loyalists—left politically vulnerable to the German and Russian agendas?
4. Do the relationships between the couples—Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, Arturo Barea and Ilsa Kulcsar—seem typical of traditional gender roles and stereotypes of the era? Were Martha, Gerda, and Ilsa at a disadvantage because they were women? Were there advantages they exploited to further their careers? How did their work compare to that of the men they worked alongside?
5. The book contains many descriptions of war correspondents coming under fire during battle— taking notes and photos as shells exploded and soldiers and civilians died. Hemingway, Gellhorn, Capa, and Taro leave Spain but are drawn back repeatedly in spite of the danger. Why? Is it passion for their work, belief in the cause, desire for fame and recognition, empathy for the suffering of their fellow humans, a need to belong to something larger than themselves? Do their reasons change as the war progresses?
6. Arturo Barea is a complex and flawed man of conscience. What were the experiences that changed him from an uncommitted, lazy, “emotional socialist” into the Unknown Voice of Madrid and, ultimately, a successful writer?
7. Each of the six main characters wanted to bear witness to the truth. But each of them also manipulated the truth, not only in support of the Loyalist cause but to satisfy the demands of the organizations they worked for. In the service of truth, how did each of them distort it? Did the ends always justify the means, or were some of their actions blatantly opportunistic or unethical?
8. The photograph known as Falling Soldier, which Capa took in Espejo, is described as one of the most famous photographs in the world. Vaill cites evidence that it probably captured a real event, but the image may have been staged. Does it matter what really happened, given the impact of the photograph? How did Capa’s and Taro’s photographs change as the war progressed?
9. When Capa catches himself writing to a friend that “the story is incomplete.... There was only an alarm, no bombing,” he is immediately horrified that he has become a journalist who cares more about the story than the people dying to make it happen. Are there instances of other journalists behaving this way?
10. Ernest Hemingway was a legend in his lifetime and is remembered today as an icon of American literature. He is portrayed as larger-than-life, macho, narcissistic, and given to exaggeration. His friend F. Scott Fitzgerald writes, “He is living in a world so entirely his own that it is impossible to help him.” Are there indications in Hemingway’s writing from Spain, or in his speeches or comments, that he considers himself to be more a player in the war than a mere documenter of events? When he writes of the “godwonderful housetohouse fighting” in Teruel, what does this reveal about his state of mind? Why is what he calls “the true gen” so important to him? Despite his bombast and self-absorption, is there evidence that he was sincere in his love for Spain and the Spanish people?
11. Imagine the Spanish Civil War with social media such as Twitter and Instagram available to all: correspondents, civilians, politicians, military leaders, and soldiers in the field. What might have been different?
12. Father Leocadio Lobo counsels Arturo Barea and Ilsa Kulcsar, “Talk and write down what you think you know, what you have seen and thought, tell it honestly and speak the truth. Let the others hear and read you, so that they are driven to tell their truth, too. And then you’ll lose that pain of yours.” What is the pain he is talking about? Did others in the book suffer from it as well?
13. In wartime, politicians, the military, and the media often find themselves uneasily coexisting in a web of truths, half-truths, and lies. What are some examples of this in Hotel Florida? How can a propagandist be a truth teller? How can a photograph lie?
14. The Spanish Civil War had historical repercussions beyond Spain and the late 1930s. What were the issues within Spain that started the war? How did Spain become a microcosm for conflicts that were building in other parts of the world? What far-reaching impact did the Nationalist victory have? For example, given the socialist views of many of the American correspondents, might there be a link to the McCarthy-era blacklisting in the United States in the 1950s?
15. By March 1939, with a Nationalist victory a reality, all of the five surviving lead characters had left Spain. How did their experiences during the war influence the rest of their lives? Of the five, who seemed to have gained, and who to have lost, the most?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford, 2009
Random House
290 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345505347
Summary
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown.
It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student.
Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure.
Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 9, 1968
• Born—Eureka, California, USA
• Raised—Ashland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington, USA
• Education—Art Institute of Seattle
• Awards—Asian/Pacific American Award-Best Adult Fiction
• Currently—lives in Montana
Jamie Ford is an American author. He is best known for his debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The book received positive reviews after its release, and was also awarded best "Adult Fiction" book at the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. The book was also named the #1 Book Club Pick for Fall 2009/Winter 2010 by the American Booksellers Association.
Background
Ford was born in Eureka, California, but grew up in Ashland, Oregon, and Port Orchard and Seattle, Washington. His father, a Seattle native, is of Chinese ancestry, while Ford’s mother is of European descent.
His Western last name "Ford" comes from his great grandfather, Min Chung (1850-1922), who immigrated to Tonopah, Nevada in 1865 and later changed his name to William Ford. Ford's great grandmother, Loy Lee Ford, was the first Chinese woman to own property in Nevada.
Ford earned a degree in Design from the Art Institute of Seattle and also attended Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts.
Writings
Ford is best known for his debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The book received positive reviews after its release, and was also awarded best “Adult Fiction” book at the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature.
In 2013, he released his second book, Songs of Willow Frost, and his third, Love and Other Consolation Prizes in 2017.
His stories have also been included in Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and the The Apocalypse Triptych, a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey. (Excerpted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/28/2017 .)
Book Reviews
Ford's strained debut concerns Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle who, in 1986, has just lost his wife to cancer…. The wartime persecution of Japanese immigrants is presented well, but the flatness of the narrative and Ford's reliance on numerous cultural clicheés make for a disappointing read.
Publishers Weekly
In his first novel, award-winning short-story writer Ford expertly nails the sweet innocence of first love, the cruelty of racism, the blindness of patriotism…. The result is a vivid picture of a confusing and critical time in American history. Recommended for all fiction collections.
Library Journal
Sentimental, heartfelt novel…. A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Father-son relationships are a crucial theme in the novel. Talk about some of these relationships and how they are shaped by culture and time. For example, how is the relationship between Henry and his father different from that between Henry and Marty? What accounts for the differences?
2. Why doesn't Henry's father want him to speak Cantonese at home? How does this square with his desire to send Henry back to China for school? Isn't he sending his son a mixed message?
3. If you were Henry, would you be able to forgive your father? Does Henry's father deserve forgiveness?
4. From the beginning of the novel, Henry wears the "I am Chinese" button given to him by his father. What is the significance of this button and its message, and how has Henry's understanding of that message changed by the end of the novel?
5. Why does Henry provide an inaccurate translation when he serves as the go-between in the business negotiations between his father and Mr. Preston? Is he wrong to betray his father's trust in this way?
6. The US has been called a nation of immigrants. In what ways do the families of Keiko and Henry illustrate different aspects of the American immigrant experience?
7. What is the bond between Henry and Sheldon, and how is it strengthened by jazz music?
8. If a novel could have a soundtrack, this one would be jazz. What is it about this indigenous form of American music that makes it an especially appropriate choice?
9. Henry's mother comes from a culture in which wives are subservient to their husbands. Given this background, do you think she could have done more to help Henry in his struggles against his father? Is her loyalty to her husband a betrayal of her son?
10. Compare Marty's relationship with Samantha to Henry's relationship with Keiko. What other examples can you find in the novel of love that is forbidden or that crosses boundaries of one kind or another?
11. What struggles did your own ancestors have as immigrants to America, and to what extent did they incorporate aspects of their cultural heritage into their new identities as Americans?
12. Does Henry give up on Keiko too easily? What else could he have done to find her?
13. What about Keiko? Why didn't she make more of an effort to see Henry once she was released from the camp?
14. Do you think Ethel might have known what was happening with Henry's letters?
15. The novel ends with Henry and Keiko meeting again after more than forty years. Jump ahead a year and imagine what has happened to them in that time. Is there any evidence in the novel for this outcome?
16. What sacrifices do the characters in the novel make in pursuit of their dreams for themselves and for others? Do you think any characters sacrifice too much, or for the wrong reasons? Consider the sacrifices Mr. Okabe makes, for example, and those of Mr. Lee. Both fathers are acting for the sake of their children, yet the results are quite different. Why?
17. Was the US government right or wrong to "relocate" Japanese-Americans and other citizens and residents who had emigrated from countries the US was fighting in WWII? Was some kind of action necessary following Pearl Harbor? Could the government have done more to safeguard civil rights while protecting national security?
18. Should the men and women of Japanese ancestry rounded up by the US during the war have protested more actively against the loss of their property and liberty? Remember that most were eager to demonstrate their loyalty to the US. What would you have done in their place? What’s to prevent something like this from ever happening again?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Hotel World
Ali Smith, 2001
Knopf Doubleday
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385722100
Summary
Five people: four are living; three are strangers; two are sisters; one, a teenage hotel chambermaid, has fallen to her death in a dumbwaiter. But her spirit lingers in the world, straining to recall things she never knew. And one night all five women find themselves in the smooth plush environs of the Global Hotel, where the intersection of their very different fates make for this playful, defiant, and richly inventive novel.
Forget room service: this is a riotous elegy, a deadpan celebration of colliding worlds, and a spirited defense of love. Blending incisive wit with surprising compassion, Hotel World is a wonderfully invigorating, life-affirming book. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1962
• Where—Inverness, Scotland, UK
• Eduation—University of Abderdeen; Cambridge University
• Awards—Whitbread Award
•Currently—lives in Cambridge, England
Ali Smith is a Scottish writer who won the Whitbread Award in 2005 for her novel, The Accidental. To date, she has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize three times and the Orange Prize twice.
She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that she never finished.
She worked as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde until she fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She then became a full-time writer and now writes for The Guardian, Scotsman, and Times Literary Supplement. She lives in Cambridge, England, with her partner filmmaker Sarah Wood.
Works
Smith is the author of several works of fiction, including the novel Hotel World (2001), which was short-listed for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize in 2001. She won the Encore Award and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award in 2002. ♦ The Accidental (2007) won the Whitbread Award and was also short-listed for both the Man Booker and Orange Prize. ♦ Her 2011 novel, There But For The, was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize and named as a Best Book of the Year by both the Washington Post and Boston Globe. ♦ How to Be Both (2014) was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Her story collections include Free Love, which won the Saltire Society Scottish First Book Award and a Scottish Arts Council Award, and The Whole Story and Other Stories.
In 2007 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In 2009, she donated the short story "Last" (previously published in the Manchester Review Online) to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 11/20/2014.)
Book Reviews
In this voice from beyond the grave Ali Smith has created the perfect literary ghost...imbued with a powerful sense of wonder at the minutiae of everyday sensuality...and her beautiful, vivid descriptions are reinforced by a sharp, unsentimental tongue.
Times (London)
Where British reviewers see ambition, subtlety and wild imagination, all I can detect are leaden whimsy and mechanistic storytelling. Hotel World turns out to be a thin piece of work, one that fails to deliver on the promise implicit in its title—for, rather than explore the entire world of a hotel, with its broad array of guests, staff and casual visitors, Smith concentrates on a handful of characters who seem hostile to the very notion of professional hospitality.
Michael Upchurch - New York Times
To her considerable credit as a writer, Smith manages to have her characters approach these grim subjects in moods of humor and unselfconscious bumbling, which makes Hotel World a greatly appealing read.
Chris Lehmann - Washington Post
The heart of Scottish writer Ali Smith may belong to good old-fashioned metaphysics—to truth and beauty and love beyond the grave—but her stylistic sensibility owes its punch to the Modernists. She's street-savy and poignant at once, with a brutal sense of irony and a wonderful feel for literary economy. There's a kind of stainless-steel clarity at the center of her fiction.
Boston Globe
Hotel World is compelling...precisely because it suggests shifting yet coherent perspectives rather than simplifying lives into rigid, inert realities. Most impressively, Smith has mastered sophisticated literary techniques, which never intrude or bog down a delectable narrative of human perception and rumination. Apart from establishing Ali Smith as a novelist with the skills of a Martin Amis and Samuel Beckett combined, Hotel World is a damn good read
San Francisco Chronicle
[In] Smith's hands, this slender plot serves as an excuse for a delightfully inventive, exuberant, fierce novel of which the real star is not the dead Sara, or any of the living characters, but the author's vivid, fluent, highly readable prose. Hotel World was a well-deserved finalist last year for two prestigious British prizes: the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize.... I can't begin to paraphrase all that this dazzling book conveys about humanity and mortality.
Margot Livesey - Newsday
Featured are five women whose lives (and a death) overlap at the Global Hotel, a generic establishment in an unnamed city in England.... Smith's narrative style varies with each character and is generally exciting and quite successful, although some readers will find the acrobatics tiring. The connections she makes between the characters across class lines and even across the line between life and death are driven home in a beautifully lyrical coda.
Publishers Weekly
A heartfelt and introspective ghost story, Hotel World begins at the end and works backward and then meanders some in between.... [C]haracters come together in a tender, moving story of innocence, love, and kindness. Highly recommended. —Lisa Nussbaum, Dauphin Cty. Lib. Syst., Harrisburg, PA
Library Journal
A...verbally high-speed tale of a girl's death that may touch some but will seem mainly airy to others..... The pieces do finally come together, yet all remains oddly mechanical, no matter how many words and pages accumulate, and accumulate, and accumulate. One feels as though Smith were taking as long as possible on as little as possible to make things seem as important as possible.
Kirkus Reviews
Book Club Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Hotel World:
1. What is this book about? Start by asking what major issues Ali Smith examines. Be sure to consider the title. (Actually, this is a question you might want to return to later on.)
2. Follow-up to Question #1: Why does Smith center her novel around the ghost of a dead girl? Why death...and why ghost? What is Smith exploring?
3. What does Sara hope for when she remarks...
What I want more than anything in the world is to have a stone in my shoe...so that it jags into different parts of the sole and hurts just enough to be pleasure.
Or when she says, "A mouthful of dust would be something." How does Sara's yearning suggest the novel's thematic concerns? (Notice the homophone, sole/soul.)
4. Speaking of homophones—Smith peppers her text with clever wordplay. Go through the novel and pick out some examples, such as Else's "rebegot" and Lisa's "rebiggot." Can you find others?
5. Follow-up to Question #4: Reviewers have commented on Smith's remarkable facility with words, her wit and playfulness. Yet questions have also been raised as to whether her style is all surface gloss...or whether she mines deeper issues. What's your opinion?
6. Presumably Sara's death is accidental, stemming from a dare with a young porter. Yet there is also a hint of suicide. What do you think? And if it is suicide, would it make a difference in how you think about the novel?
7. What is Lise's illness all about? Why does she invite Else to spend a night at the hotel? (Don't overlook the wordplay in the two names—Lise/Else.)
8. Why is Lise so enraged about both the hotel and Penny? What do they represent to her? Are they deserving of Lise's hostility?
9. Consider Else as a character. What does her watching TV through other peoples' windows suggest about her (thematically or otherwise)? What about her elisions—was it heard for you to understand her speech? Did you find it humorous or irritating? What do we come to learn, or suspect, about Else's past?
10. Why does Smith set the novel in a hotel? How does the setting work as the book's central metaphor? Think of people checking in...and out of a hotel...every hour, every day. What else does a hotel suggest?
11. Follow-up to Question #10: Think about the hotel as a specific corporate entity. What does the "Global Hotel" suggest about the values and practices of contemporary society? In what way, then, is this novel a social critique?
12. Talk about the ways in which Claire reacts to Sara's death? Why does she collect her dust and trophies, dress up in her uniform, and try to work out how many seconds it took for her to fall to her death. Is Clare's reaction normal or obsessive? Do you find her presence in the novel morbid or endearing...or what?
13. Think about how Clare forms the link between the other characters. Is this story really hers? In what way is she instrumental in the novel's achieving a sort of stasis at the end?
14. Talk about the section titles and their meaning: Past, Present Historic, Future Conditional, Perfect, Future in the Past, and Present. Clearly these are references to time. Where else is time mentioned? What is its importance to the novel?
15. Trace the stages of grief in the novel, particularly as represented through the characters.
16. As a postmodernist, Ali Smith has sprinkled her "text" with postmodern theory: indeterminacy of words; fragmentation of consciousness and experience; impermanence; tenuousness of cause-and-affect...and of life in general. Can you locate those ideas in Hotel World?
17. Finally, do you like this book? Did you enjoy reading it?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Hour I First Believed
Wally Lamb, 2008
HarperCollins
768 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780060988432
Summary
In The Hour I First Believed, Lamb travels well beyond his earlier work and embodies in his fiction myth, psychology, family history stretching back many generations, and the questions of faith that lie at the heart of everyday life. The result is an extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character.
When forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of chaos are not so easily put right, and further tragedy ensues.
While Maureen fights to regain her sanity, Caelum discovers a cache of old diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family's house. The colorful and intriguing story they recount spans five generations of Quirk family ancestors, from the Civil War era to Caelum's own troubled childhood. Piece by piece, Caelum reconstructs the lives of the women and men whose legacy he bears. Unimaginable secrets emerge; long-buried fear, anger, guilt, and grief rise to the surface.
As Caelum grapples with unexpected and confounding revelations from the past, he also struggles to fashion a future out of the ashes of tragedy. His personal quest for meaning and faith becomes a mythic journey that is at the same time quintessentially contemporary — and American. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 17, 1950
• Where—Norwich, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., M.A., University of Connecticut;
M.F.A., University of Vermont
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Connecticut
Wally Lamb is an American author of several novels, including She's Come Undone (1992) and I Know This Much Is True (1998), The Hour I First Believed (2008), and We Are Water (2013). The first two books were Oprah Book Club selections. Lamb was the director of the Writing Center at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich from 1989 to 1998 and has taught Creative Writing in the English Department at the University of Connecticut.
Early life
Lamb was born to a working-class family in Norwich, Connecticut. Three Rivers, the fictional town where several of his novels are set, is based on Norwich and the nearby towns of New London, Willimantic, Connecticut, and Westerly, Rhode Island. As a child, Lamb loved to draw and create his own comic books—activities which, he says, gave him "a leg up" on the imagery and colloquial dialogue that characterize his stories. He credits his ability to write in female voices, as well as male, with having grown up with older sisters in a neighborhood largely populated by girls.
After graduating from high school, Lamb studied at the University of Connecticut during the turbulent early 1970s era of anti-war and civil-rights protests and student strikes. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Education from the University of Connecticut and an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College.
Writing
Lamb began writing in 1981, the year he became a first-time father. Lamb's first published stories were short fictions that appeared in Northeast, a Sunday magazine of the Hartford Courant. "Astronauts," published in the Missouri Review in 1989, won the Missouri Review William Penden Prize and became widely anthologize
d. His first novel, She's Come Undone, was followed six years later by I Know This Much Is True, a story about identical twin brothers, one of whom develops paranoid schizophrenia. Both novels became number one bestsellers after Oprah Winfrey selected them for her popular Book Club. Lamb's third novel, The Hour I First Believed, published in 2008, interfaces fiction with such non-fictional events as the Columbine High School shooting, the Iraq War, and, in a story within the story, events of nineteenth-century America. Published the following year, Wishin' and Hopin' was a departure for Lamb: a short, comically nostalgic novel about a parochial school fifth grader, set in 1964. In We Are Water, Lamb returns to his familiar setting of Three Rivers. The novel focuses on art, 1950s-era racial strife, and the impact of a devastating flood on a Connecticut family.
Teaching
Lamb taught English and writing for 25 years at the Norwich Free Academy, a regional high school that was his alma mater. In his last years at the school, Lamb designed and implemented the school's Writing Center, where he instructed students in writing across the disciplines. As a result of his work for this program, he was chosen the Norwich Free Academy's first Teacher of the Year and later was named a finalist for the honor of Connecticut Teacher of the Year (1989). From 1997 to 1999, he was an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Connecticut. As the school's Director of Creative Writing, he originated a student-staffed literary and arts magazine, The Long River Review.
Prison work
From 1999 to the present, Lamb has facilitated a writing program for incarcerated women at the York Correctional Institute, Connecticut's only women's prison in Niantic, Connecticut. The program has produced two collections of his inmate students' autobiographical writing, Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters and I'll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison, both of which Lamb edited.
The publication of the first book became a source of controversy and media attention when, a week before its release, the State of Connecticut unexpectedly sued its incarcerated contributors—not for the six thousand dollars each writer would collect after her release from prison but for the entire cost of her incarceration, calculated at $117 per day times the number of days in her prison sentence. When one of the writers won a PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, given to a writer whose freedom of speech is under attack, the prison destroyed the women's writing and moved to close down Lamb's program. These actions caught the interest of the CBS 60 Minute; the State of Connecticut settled the lawsuit and reinstated the program shortly before the show was aired.
Influences
Lamb says he draws influence from masters of long- and short-form fiction, among them John Updike, Flannery O'Connor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver, and Andre Dubus.
He credits his perennial teaching of certain novels to high school students with teaching him about "the scaffolding" of longer stories. Among these, Lamb lists Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He says Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other anthropological analyses of the commonalities of ancient myths from diverse world cultures helped him to figure out the ways in which stories, ancient and modern, can illuminate the human condition. Lamb has also stated that he is influenced by pop culture and artists who work in other media. Among these he mentions painters Edward Hopper and René Magritte.
Honors and awards
Lamb's writing awards include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Connecticut Center for the Book's Lifetime Achievement Award, selections by Oprah's Book Club and Germany's Bertelsmann Book Club, the Pushcart Prize, the New England Book Award for Fiction, and New York Times Notable Books of the Year listings.
She's Come Undone was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times's Best First Novel Award and one of People magazine's Top Ten Books of the Year. I Know This Much Is True won the Friends of the Library USA Readers' Choice Award for best novel of 1998 and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill's Kenneth Johnson Award for its anti-stigmatizing of mental illness.
Teaching awards for Lamb include a national Apple Computers "Thanks to Teachers" Excellence Award and the Barnes and Noble "Writers Helping Writers" Award for his work with incarcerated women. Lamb has received Honorary Doctoral Degrees from several colleges and universities and was awarded Distinguished Alumni awards from Vermont College of Fine Arts and the University of Connecticut. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/14/13.)
Book Reviews
A great story is buried in Wally Lamb's avalanche of a novel, The Hour I First Believed, but only the most determined readers will manage to dig it out.... The author can be a captivating storyteller, and he has built this story on one of the most shocking acts of violence in modern history. Sadly, though, his new novel becomes so burdened by diversions, delays, tangents and side plots that the whole rambling enterprise grows maddening....Lamb doesn't provide the sort of psychological insight into the perpetrators that we got from Richard Russo's and Lionel Shriver's novels about school shootings, but he knows just how to let the details of a tragedy unfold without decoration or commentary. He's a master at the kind of direct, unadorned narrative that brings these events alive in all their visceral power. The most terrifying section of The Hour I First Believed is essentially a docudrama of the Columbine massacre, describing the actual events, naming the real victims and heroes and providing chilling excerpts from Klebold's and Harris's journals and videotapes.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
A novel of this length, filled with one troubled soul after another, could take an eternity to get through. And there are times when Lamb's tale could have benefited from a more ruthless editor. But to use an age-old cliché, it's a page-turner — at times a depressing page-turner, but a page-turner nonetheless. Lamb remains a storyteller at the top of his game. For some reason, you care about these people."
USA Today
Reading Wally Lamb's new novel, his first in 10 years, is akin to putting on flannel pajamas during the first cold snap of the season. Nothing fancy here. But what a comfort to get lost in Lamb's characters.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Lamb is exceptional in his exploration of the direct and indirect impacts of survivor guilt. And he makes it clear that, no matter how much the hearts of the community went out to those who lost loved ones and to those scarred by the killers, we still weren't capable of walking in their shoes.
Denver Post
But although the book is the long, luxurious and enjoyable read that Lamb fans have come to love, The Hour I First Believed ultimately fails to tie these events together into a coherent statement on the contemporary American experience. Instead, Lamb has crafted another affecting, engrossing tome about complicated, interesting characters.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The beauty of The Hour I First Believed, a soaring novel as amazingly graceful as the classic hymn that provides the title, is that Lamb never loses sight of the spark of human resilience. Faced with tragedy, we stagger on. Or at least we try to, and Lamb's dexterity at reflecting this wonder is the lifeblood of his book.
Miami Herald
(Audio version.) Lamb’s third novel tackles the Columbine high school shooting head on as he places his fictional protagonists into the horrific events of April 1999. Caelum and his wife, Maureen, move to Colorado for teaching jobs at Columbine not long before the shootings. As the events unfold, Maureen finds herself in harms way but luckily survives, only to be haunted by the occurrence. Narrator George Guidall reads with an earnest, familiar voice. He draws listeners into this fascinating tale with nothing more than raw emotion and honesty; rarely does such a straightforward performance tap into the human psyche so effectively.
Publishers Weekly
In a sprawling narrative that contains enough tragedy for three novels, Lamb tells the story of 47-year-old English teacher Caelum Quirk and his third wife, Maureen, a nurse. After almost breaking up over Maureen’s infidelity, the two move to Littleton, Colorado, hoping for a fresh start.... Lamb’s overlong narrative and endless recitation of tragedy dilute the power of his story. Still, his particular brand of hope-and-despair fiction holds a powerful allure for his fans, who will be lining up for this long-awaited novel. —Joanne Wilkinson
Booklist
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. The Hour I First Believed deals with many themes: violence, family, the quest for meaning and connection, faith, and the power of chaos to change our lives. These themes are stitched together by two opposing emotional states—despair and hope. How are these two oppositional states intertwined in the story? How are they demonstrated in the story? Use any of the character's lives as an example.
2. Do you believe that out of chaos—tragedy—comes understanding and hope? Is this always the case?
3. Can perpetrators of chaos be victims themselves? Which, if any of the characters, demonstrate this? If you answer no, why not?
4. One of the major themes of the book is violence. Can violence ever be justified? Is it sometimes necessary? Think about the sacrifices of Caelum's ancestors who gave their lives to free the slaves and save the Union. Or those who have lost their lives in other conflicts. Is war always immoral?
5. Scientists say we all have the capability of violence. What stops some from hurting others? What might propel the unassuming to commit a tragic act? How is this evident in the novel?
6. Discuss the main characters. What were your impressions of Caelum and Maureen? Of Velvet? What about the real-life perpetrators of Columbine, Eric and Dylan? Did your impressions of these characters change over the course of the novel? If so, why?
7. How does Caelum and Maureen's relationship evolve from the beginning of the story to its conclusion? Why did they stay together? Would either have been justified in divorcing the other? If they had separated, what might have happened to them?
8. Why does Velvet call Maureen Mom? What is their relationship? Why do you think they were able to form such a powerful bond? What did each give to the other? What is Velvet's relationship to Caelum? Why does he find it so difficult to sympathize with the girl when she is his student?
9. How does the arrival of Katrina survivors Janis and Moze affect Caelum's life? What does their appearance add to the story?
10. Velvet tells Caelum that she Googled his name and discovered it was a constellation. According to Webster's Dictionary, a constellation is "a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure; a group or cluster of related things." Does the novel's main character embody this definition? How so?
11. Do you think Caelum could have found his hour of belief without the events he experienced? Do you think he could have learned to believe without discovering the stories of his parents, his aunt, and other family members who went before him?
12. What does the title The Hour I First Believed mean to you? Have you had a moment of belief or witnessed it in another's life?
13. In the "Afterword" Wally Lamb writes, "I placed my fictional protagonist inside a confounding nonfictional maze and challenged him to locate, at its center, the monsters he would need to confront and the means by which he might save himself and others. Along the way to discovering Caelum Quirk's story, I, too, wandered down corridors baffling and unfamiliar." Did reading the novel take you to unexpected places or raise unfamiliar feelings? Explain.
14. Caelum's aunt, Lolly, lived by the philosophy of the sign that hung behind her desk at the prison: "A woman who surrenders her freedom need not surrender her dignity." What did that mean to Lolly? What does that mean to you? Did Maureen find freedom in her imprisonment?
15. The novel recalls the debate of nature versus nurture. How much are we the sum of our families? How much can we change?
16. Fate and free will also play a role throughout the novel. How are the two connected? How are fate and free will related to nature and nurture?
17. In his community college class, Caelum asks his students to relate the Greek myths to their own lives. In reading their responses to his question, which, if any resonate with your own life?
18. Throughout the novel, Wally Lamb interweaves numerous calamities that have befallen our country, from school violence to Hurricane Katrina to the Iraq War, that have touched all of us to some degree. Can you find hope in any of these dramas? If so, what?
19. We live in a society that believes more in punishment and retribution than in rehabilitation when it comes to the incarcerated—a far different view than that held by Caelum's aunt, Lolly, a correctional officer at a successful women's prison before she was forced into retirement. Do you believe in rehabilitation? Do you think kindness is important even when it comes to criminals? Why or why not?
20. Wally Lamb has worked within the prison system, using his gifts to reach out and help inmates. Have your views of crime, prison, and criminals changed in any way from your reading of the novel?
21. One critic called Wally Lamb a "modern-day Dostoyevsky," whose characters struggle not only with their respective pasts, but with a "mocking, sadistic God" in whom they don't believe but to whom they turn, nevertheless, in times of trouble (New York Times). Do you think this describes The Hour I First Believed?
22. If you've read Wally Lamb's previous novels, compare and contrast them with The Hour I First Believed.
23. If you've read the autobiographical essays written by the women in Wally Lamb's York Prison workshop (Couldn't Keep It To Myself, I'll Fly Away), would you say that Lamb's work with these students informed the plot of The Hour I First Believed? If so, in what ways?
24. The Hour I First Believed interfaces fictional characters with actual people who are alive today and people from the historical past. Did you enjoy this technique or not? Is it fair or unfair to blend fiction and nonfiction? Was it fair of Lamb to draw on the actual Columbine tragedy, or should he have created a fictional school shooting incident?
25. Caelum makes note of the irony of a maze: how that which seems illogical and confounding on the ground looks logical and ordered from above. Explain how these two perspectives apply to Caelum's life story as well.
26. The novel's final two sentences are: Yes, that was when at last it happened. That was The Hour I First Believed. Identify the hour to which Caelum refers? That which Caelum came to believe is open to interpretation. How do you interpret what the character finally believed?
27. Play the casting game. If a movie were to be made of this novel, which actors would you cast in the key roles?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The Hours
Michael Cunningham, 1998
Macmillan Picador
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312243029
Summary
Winner, 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award
Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, The Hours tells the story of three women: Clarissa Vaughan, who one New York morning goes about planning a party in honor of a beloved friend; Laura Brown, who in a 1950s Los Angeles suburb slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home; and Virginia Woolf, recuperating with her husband in a London suburb and beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway. By the end of the novel, the stories have intertwined, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace, demonstrating Michael Cunningham’s deep empathy for his characters as well as the extraordinary resonance of his language. (From the publisher.)
More
In this remarkable book, Cunningham draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, life and death, creation and destruction. The novel moves along three separate but parallel stories, each focusing on the experiences of a particular woman during the course of one apparently unremarkable but in fact pivotal day.
Clarissa Vaughan, a book editor in present-day Greenwich Village, is organizing a party for her oldest friend, Richard, an AIDS-stricken poet who has just won a major literary prize. Laura Brown, a young wife and mother in 1949 Los Angeles, cares for her toddler and prepares a birthday cake for her husband as she tries to resist increasing waves of panic and feelings of alienation from her humdrum yet demanding life. And Virginia Woolf herself, the third woman, works on her new novel, Mrs. Dalloway, chats with her husband and sister, bickers with her cook, and attempts to come to terms with her deep, ungovernable longings for escape and even for death. As the novel jump-cuts through the century, the lives and stories of the three women converge, stunningly and unexpectedly, the night of Clarissa's party for Richard. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 06, 1952
• Where—Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford; M.F.A., University of Iowa
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize; PEN/Faulkner Award; Whiting
Writers Award
• Currently—New York City
Michael Cunningham's novel A Home at the End of the World was published to acclaim in 1990; an excerpt, entitled "White Angel" and published in The New Yorker, was chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989. His novel Flesh and Blood was published in 1995, and that year he won a Whiting Writer's Award. The Hours, Cunningham's third novel, received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. (From the publisher.)
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By the time he finished Virginia Woolf's classic Mrs. Dalloway at the age of fifteen to impress a crush who tauntingly suggested he "try and be less stupid" and do so, Michael Cunningham knew that he was destined to become a writer. While his debut novel wouldn't come until decades later, he would win the Pulitzer for Fiction with his third — fittingly, an homage to the very book that launched both his love of literature and his life's work.
After growing up Cincinnati, Ohio, Cunningham fled to the west coast to study literature at Stanford University, but later returned to the heartland, where he received his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1980. A writer recognized early on for his promising talent, Cunningham was awarded several grants toward his work, including a Michener Fellowship from the University of Iowa in 1982, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1988.
In 1984, Cunningham's debut novel, Golden States, was published. While generally well-received by the critics, the book — a narrative chronicling a few weeks in the life of a 12-year-old-boy — is often dismissed by Cunningham. In an interview with Other Voices, he explains: "I'm so much more interested in some kind of grand ambitious failure than I am in someone's modest little success that achieves its modest little aims. I felt that I had written a book like that, and I wasn't happy about it. My publisher very generously allowed me to turn down a paperback offer and it has really gone away."
With a new decade came Cunningham's stirring novel, A Home at the End of the World, in 1990. The story of a heartbreakingly lopsided love triangle between two gay men and their mutual female friend, the novel was a groundbreaking take on the ‘90s phenomenon of the nontraditional family. While not exactly released with fanfare, the work drew impressive reviews that instantly recognized Cunningham's gift for using language to define his characters' voices and outline their motives. David Kaufman of The Nation noted Cunningham's "exquisite way with words and...his uncanny felicity in conveying both his characters and their story," and remarked that "this is quite simply one of those rare novel imbued with graceful insights on every page."
The critical acclaim of A Home at the End of the World no doubt helped Cunningham win the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993 — and two years later, his domestic epic Flesh and Blood was released. Chronicling the dysfunctional Stassos family from their suburban present back through to the parents' roots and looking toward the children's uncertain futures, the sprawling saga was praised for its complexity and heart. The New York Times Book Review noted that "Mr. Cunningham gets all the little things right.... Mr. Cunningham gets the big stuff right, too. For the heart of the story lies not in the nostalgic references but in the complex relationships between parents and children, between siblings, friends and lovers."
While the new decade ushered in his impressive debut, the close of the decade brought with it Cunningham's inarguable opus, The Hours (1998). A tribute to that seminal work that was the author's first inspiration — Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway — the book reworks the events and ideas of the classic and sets them alternately in 1980s Greenwich Village, 1940s Los Angeles, and Woolf's London. Of Cunningham's ambitious project, USA Today raved, "The Hours is that rare combination: a smashing literary tour-de-force and an utterly invigorating reading experience. If this book does not make you jump up from the sofa, looking at life and literature in new ways, check to see if you have a pulse." The Hours won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was adapted into a major motion picture starring the powerhouse trio of Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman in December 2002.
To come down from the frenetic success of The Hours, Cunningham took on a quieter project, 2002's tribute/travelogue Land's End: A Walk Through Provincetown. The first installment in Crown's new "Crown Journeys" series, the book is a loving tour through the eccentric little town at the tip of Cape Cod beloved by so many artists and authors, Cunningham included. A haven for literary legends from Eugene O'Neill to Norman Mailer, Cunningham is — rightfully — at home there.
Extras
• Cunningham's short story "White Angel" was chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989 — the year before his acclaimed novel A Home at the End of the World was published.
• When asked about any other names he goes by, Cunningham's list included the monikers Bree Daniels, Mickey Fingers, Jethro, Old Yeller, Gaucho, Cowboy Ed, Tim-Bob, Mister Lies, Erin The Red, Miss Kitty, and Squeegee. ("More" and "Extras" from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours is that rare combination: a smashing lliterary tour de force and an utterly invigorating reading experience. If this book does not make you jump up from the sofa, looking at life and literature in new ways, check to see if you have a pulse.
Anne Prichard - USA Today
[W]hen a novelist has the right stuff, he can endow literally any subject with truth, poetry, and intelligence....The Hours is a meditation on age and decay, on sanity and insanity, on the nature of the creative act, on the ineradicable love for life that continues even in the face of a longing for death.
The New Criterion
What, he essentially asks in The Hours, is it like to grow up and be older, to succeed and fail, to have friends and lovers and children and parents who delight and disappoint, provide joy and sorrow?.... Aficionados will undoubtedly relish the countless parallels between a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway and a day in the life of Clarissa Vaughan.
Vogue
Michael Cunningham's new novel, The Hours, is neither an homage nor a sequel to Mrs. Dalloway. It is, rather, an attempt at osmosis with the spirit of Virginia Woolf. Cunningham, the author of such well-received novels as A Home at the End of the World (1990) and Flesh and Blood (1995), has even borrowed the title that Woolf had originally intended for her elegant story about a single June day in 1923 when Clarissa Dalloway gives a party and World War I veteran Septimus Smith cracks up. The Hours, is a feat of literary acrobatics, yet in the end does not affect us as profoundly as Mrs. Dalloway. The Hours is a variation on a theme, and it's the original melody rather than the contemporary arrangement that's most memorable.
In Woolf's original, the setting is London and many of the characters are members of the British upper-middle class, just a rung below the aristocracy. Septimus' madness reflects the primary social ill of the day — the debilitated physical and mental state of many World War I veterans. Woolf's characters follow the sexual codes of the 1920s bourgeoisie. Clarissa's first passion is her friend Sally Seton, but the question of a committed lesbian relationship would never enter her mind. She rejects her more ardent suitor, Peter Walsh, in favor of a bloodless marriage to the loving but staid Richard Dalloway. Now Peter, still struck by her, turns up after years in India, just in time to attend her party.
Curiously, Cunningham opens The Hours with a chilling description of Virginia Woolf's suicide in 1941. It doesn't feel like a part of the novel that follows, which consists of three distinct narratives that overlap one another. The third takes place at the end of the 20th century. The setting is Manhattan, and the contemporary social ill is AIDS. The characters, rather than bourgeois, are members of America's artistic and academic elite. They may be rich by the world's standards, but hardly "New York rich."
Richard Brown is an award-winning novelist and poet, physically and mentally ravaged by AIDS. (He may put some readers in mind of Harold Brodkey.) Clarissa Vaughan, whose first passion was for the bisexual Richard years earlier, has settled down with the woman she loves — Sally, a public television producer. Louis, the Peter Walsh stand-in and once part of a ménage à trois with Richard and Clarissa, is back in New York just in time for the party Clarissa is throwing for Richard, to celebrate a literary award he has won.
Cunningham's writing has a luminous quality. One can easily imagine Woolf describing her sister's world as "the carnival wagon that bears Vanessa — the whole gaudy party of her, that vast life, the children and paints and lovers, the brilliantly cluttered house — [that] has passed on into the night." He reinterprets characters, gives them his own spin. Religious fanatic Miss Kilman becomes Mary Krull, a politically hardcore lesbian, as much a party pooper (of the whole human parade as well as Clarissa's little celebration) as the original. Pulling off this clever literary accomplishment shows us that the talented Michael Cunningham isn't at all afraid of Virginia Woolf.
Georgia Jones-Davis - Salon
At first blush, the structural and thematic conceits of this novel — three interwoven novellas in varying degrees connected to Virginia Woolf — seem like the stuff of a graduate student's pipe dream: a great idea in the dorm room that betrays a lack of originality. But as soon as one dips into Cunningham's prologue, in which Woolf's suicide is rendered with a precise yet harrowing matter-of-factness ("She hurries from the house, wearing a coat too heavy for the weather. It is 1941. She has left a note for Leonard, and another for Vanessa."), the reader becomes completely entranced. This book more than fulfills the promise of Cunningham's 1990 debut, A Home at the End of the World, while showing that sweep does not necessarily require the sprawl of his second book, Flesh and Blood. In alternating chapters, the three stories unfold: "Mrs. Woolf," about Virginia's own struggle to find an opening for Mrs. Dalloway in 1923; "Mrs. Brown," about one Laura Brown's efforts to escape, somehow, an airless marriage in California in 1949 while, coincidentally, reading Mrs. Dalloway; and "Mrs. Dalloway," which is set in 1990s Greenwich Village and concerns Clarissa Vaughan's preparations for a party for her gay — and dying — friend, Richard, who has nicknamed her Mrs. Dalloway. Cunningham's insightful use of the historical record concerning Woolf in her household outside London in the 1920s is matched by his audacious imagining of her inner life and his equally impressive plunges into the lives of Laura and Clarissa.
The book would have been altogether absorbing had it been linked only thematically. However, Cunningham cleverly manages to pull the stories even more intimately togther in the closing pages. Along the way, rich and beautifully nuanced scenes follow one upon the other: Virginia, tired and weak, irked by the early arrival of headstrong sister Vanessa, her three children and the dead bird they bury in the backyard; Laura's afternoon escape to an L.A. hotel to read for a few hours; Clarissa's anguished witnessing of her friend's suicidal jump down an airshaft, rendered with unforgettable detail. The overall effect of this book is twofold. First, it makes a reader hunger to know all about Woolf, again; readers may be spooked at times, as Woolf's spirit emerges in unexpected ways, but hers is an abiding presence, more about living than dying. Second, and this is the gargantuan accomplishment of this small book, it makes a reader believe in the possibility and depth of a communality based on great literature, literature that has shown people how to live and what to ask of life.
Publishers Weekly
Clarissa Dalloway certainly is a popular lady nowadays, with a recent movie and now a new book based on her life. She is, of course, the heroine of Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel about a day in the life of a proper but uninspired wife and the tragic event that changes her. In this new work by Cunningham (Flesh and Blood, LJ 4/15/95), that day's events are reflected and reinterpreted in the interwoven stories of three women: Laura, a reluctant mother and housewife of the 1940s; Clarissa, an editor in the 1990s and caretaker of her best friend, an AIDS patient; and Woolf herself, on the verge of writing the aforementioned novel. Certain themes flow from story to story: paths not taken, the need for independence, meditations on mortality. Woolf fans will enjoy identifying these scenes in a different context, but it's only at the end that the author engages more than just devoted followers with a surprisingly touching coda that stresses the common bonds the characters share. Given Woolf's popularity, this is a book all libraries should consider, with an exhortation to visit Mrs. Dalloway as well. —Marc A. Kloszewski, Indiana Free Lib., PA
Library Journal
Steeped in the work and life of Virginia Woolf, Cunningham (Flesh and Blood) offers up a sequel to the work of the great author, complete with her own pathos and brilliance. Cunningham tells three tales, interweaving them in cunning ways and, after the model of Mrs. Dalloway itself, allowing each only a day in the life of its central character. First comes Woolf herself, in June of 1923 (after a prologue describing her 1941 suicide). In Woolf's day (as in her writings), little "happens," though the profundities are great: Virginia works (on Mrs. Dalloway); her sister Vanessa visits; Virginia holds her madness at bay (just barely); and, over dinner, she convinces husband Leonard to move back to London from suburban Richmond. In the "Mrs. Brown" sections, a young woman named Sally Brown reads the novel Mrs. Dalloway, this in suburban L.A. (in 1949), where Sally has a three-year-old son, is pregnant again, and, preparing her husband's birthday celebration, fights off her own powerful despair.
Finally, and at greatest length, is the present-time day in June of Mrs. Dalloway, this being one Clarissa Vaughan of West 10th Street, New York City, years ago nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway by her then-lover and now-AIDS-victim Richard Brown — who, on this day in June, is to receive a major prize for poetry. Like the original Mrs. Dalloway, this Clarissa is planning a party (for Richard), goes out for flowers, observes the day, sees someone famous, thinks about life, time, the past, and love ("Now she knows: That was the moment, right then. There has been no other"). Much in fact does happen; much is lost, hoped for, feared, sometimes recovered ("It will serve as this afternoon's manifestation of the central mystery itself"), all in gorgeous, Woolfian, shimmering, perfectly-observed prose. Hardly a false note in an extraordinary carrying on of a true greatness that doubted itself.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Clarissa Vaughan is described several times as an "ordinary" woman. Do you accept this valuation? If so, what does it imply about the ordinary, about being ordinary? What makes someone, by contrast, extraordinary?
2. Flowers and floral imagery play a significant part in The Hours. When and where are flowers described? What significance do they have, and with what events and moods are they associated? How do flowers affect Virginia? Clarissa?
3. Cunningham plays with the notions of sanity and insanity, recognizing that there might be only a very fine line between the two states. What does the novel imply about the nature of insanity? Might it in fact be a heightened sanity, or at least a heightened sense of awareness? Would you classify Richard as insane? How does his mental state compare with that of Virginia? Of Laura as a young wife? Of Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway? Does insanity (or the received idea of insanity) appear to be connected with creative gifts?
4. Virginia and Laura are both, in a sense, prisoners of their eras and societies, and both long for freedom from this imprisonment. Clarissa Vaughan, on the other hand, apparently enjoys every liberty: freedom to be a lesbian, to come and go and live as she likes. Yet she has ended up, in spite of her unusual way of life, as a fairly conventional wife and mother. What might this fact indicate about the nature of society and the restrictions it imposes? Does the author imply that character, to a certain extent, is destiny?
5. Each of the novel's three principal women, even the relatively prosaic and down-to-earth Clarissa, occasionally feels a sense of detachment, of playing a role. Laura feels as if she is "about to go onstage and perform in a play for which she is not appropriately dressed, and for which she has not adequately rehearsed" [p. 43]. Clarissa is filled with "a sense of dislocation. This is not her kitchen at all. This is the kitchen of an acquaintance, pretty enough but not her taste, full of foreign smells" [p. 91]. Is this feeling in fact a universal one? Is role-playing an essential part of living in the world, and of behaving "sanely"? Which of the characters refuses to act a role, and what price does he/she pay for this refusal?
6. Who kisses whom in The Hours, and what is the significance of each kiss?
7. The Hours is very much concerned with creativity and the nature of the creative act, and each of its protagonists is absorbed in a particular act of creation. For Virginia and Richard, the object is their writing; for Clarissa Vaughan (and Clarissa Dalloway), it is a party; for Laura Brown, it is another party, or, more generally, "This kitchen, this birthday cake, this conversation. This revived world" [p. 106]. What does the novel tell us about the creative process? How does each character revise and improve his or her creation during the course of the story?
8. How might Richard's childhood experiences have made him the adult he eventually becomes? In what ways has he been wounded, disturbed?
9. Each of the three principal women is acutely conscious of her inner self or soul, slightly separate from the "self" seen by the world. Clarissa's "determined, abiding fascination is what she thinks of as her soul" [p. 12]; Virginia "can feel it inside her, an all but indescribable second self, or rather a parallel, purer self. If she were religious, she would call it the soul.... It is an inner faculty that recognizes the animating mysteries of the world because it is made of the same substance" [pp. 34-35]. Which characters keep these inner selves ruthlessly separate from their outer ones? Why?
10. Each of the novel's characters sees himself or herself, most of the time, as a failure. Virginia Woolf, as she walks to her death, reflects that "She herself has failed. She is not a writer at all, really; she is merely a gifted eccentric" [p. 4]. Richard, disgustedly, admits to Clarissa, "I thought I was a genius. I actually used that word, privately, to myself" [p. 65]. Are the novel's characters unusual, or are such feelings of failure an essential and inevitable part of the human condition?
11. Toward the end of Clarissa's day, she realizes that kissing Richard beside the pond in Wellfleet was the high point, the culmination, of her life. Richard, apparently, feels the same. Are we meant to think, though, that their lives would have been better, more heightened, had they stayed together? Or does Cunningham imply that as we age we inevitably feel regret for some lost chance, and that what we in fact regret is youth itself?
12. The Hours could on one level be said to be a novel about middle age, the final relinquishment of youth and the youthful self. What does middle age mean to these characters? In what essential ways do these middle-aged people — Clarissa, Richard, Louis, Virginia — differ from their youthful selves? Which of them resists the change most strenuously?
13. What does the possibility of death represent to the various characters? Which of them loves the idea of death, as others love life? What makes some of the characters decide to die, others to live? What personality traits separate the "survivors" from the suicides?
14. If you have read Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, would you describe The Hours as a modern version of it? A commentary upon it? A dialogue with it? Which characters in The Hours correspond with those of Woolf's novel? In what ways are they similar, and at what point do the similarities cease and the characters become freestanding individuals in their own right?
15. For the most part, the characters in The Hours have either a different gender or a different sexual orientation from their prototypes in Mrs. Dalloway. How much has all this gender-bending affected or changed the situations, the relationships, and the people?
16. Why has Cunningham chosen The Hours for the title of his novel (aside from the fact that it was Woolf's working title for Mrs. Dalloway)? In what ways is the title appropriate, descriptive? What do hours mean to Richard? To Laura? To Clarissa?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The House at Riverton
Kate Morton, 2006
Simon & Schuster
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781416550532
Summary
Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.
In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they—and Grace—know the truth.
In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties, and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.
The novel is full of secrets—some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne Du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war, and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.
Originally published to critical acclaim in Australia, already sold in ten countries and a #1 bestseller in England, The House at Riverton is a vivid, page-turning novel of suspense and passion, with characters-and an ending-the reader won't soon forget. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1976
• Where—Berri, South Australia
• Education—B.A., and M.A., University of Queensland
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Australia
Kate Morton is the eldest of three sisters. Her family moved several times before settling on Tamborine Mountain where she attended a small country school. She enjoyed reading books from an early age, her favourites being those by Enid Blyton.
She completed a Licentiate in Speech and in Drama from Trinity College London and then a summer Shakespeare course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Later she earned first-class honours for her English Literature degree at the University of Queensland, during which time she wrote two full-length manuscripts (which are unpublished) before writing the story that would become the 2006 novel The House at Riverton.
Following this she obtained a scholarship and completed a Master's degree focussing on tragedy in Victorian literature. She is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program researching contemporary novels that marry elements of gothic and mystery fiction.
Kate Morton is married to Davin, a jazz musician and composer, and they have two sons.
Works & recognition
Works and recognition
Morton's novels have been published in 38 countries and have sold three million copies.
♦ The House at Riverton was a Sunday Times #1 bestseller in the UK in 2007 and a New York Times bestseller in 2008. It won General Fiction Book of the Year at the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards, and was nominated for Most Popular Book at the British Book Awards in 2008.
♦ Her second book, The Forgotten Garden, was a #1 bestseller in Australia and a Sunday Times #1 bestseller in the UK in 2008.
♦ In 2010, Morton's third novel, The Distant Hours, was released, followed by her fourth, The Secret Keeper, in 2012. He rmost recent novel, Lake House, came out in 2015. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/23/2015.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
This debut page-turner from Australian Morton recounts the crumbling of a prominent British family as seen through the eyes of one of its servants.. Morton triumphs with a riveting plot, a touching but tense love story and a haunting ending.
Publishers Weekly
For decades, Grace Reeves has kept secret the truth of a poet's violent death by the lake at Riverton House in Oxfordshire. Now at the end of her life, 98-year-old Grace's memory is swept back.... Intriguing characters, both past and present, are skillfully drawn to create an enjoyable tale. —Joy St. John, Henderson Dist. Public .Lib, Nevada
Library Journal
In Australian author Morton's atmospheric first novel, a 98-year-old woman recollects her unwitting role in a fatal deception.... Though the climactic revelation feels contrived, Morton's characters and their predicaments are affecting, and she recreates the period with a sure hand.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think of The House at Riverton as a tragic novel? How are the characters' tragic outcomes caused by the incompatibility of what they want and who they are?
2. How important to the novel's outcome is Grace's longing for a sister? When Grace finds out about her true parentage, why does she choose not to tell Hannah? Is it the right decision? Would things have ended differently had she done otherwise?
3. Kate Morton has said that the novel's setting is as important to her as its characters, that Riverton Manor is as much a character of the book as its inhabitants. Do you agree? Does Riverton mirror the fates of the Hartford family and the aristocracy in general? If so, in what ways?
4. The First World War was a catalyst for enormous social and cultural change. Not a character in The House at Riverton is left untouched by this. Whose life is most altered? Why?
5. Is there a heroine inThe House at Riverton? If so, who is it and why?
6. Grace and Robbie are both illegitimate children of upper-class parents; however, their lives and opportunities are vastly different. Why?
7. Duty is very important to the youthful Grace. Did Grace's sense of duty contribute to the novel's conclusion? If so, how? Would things have turned out better for the characters if Grace had made different decisions?
8. One of the main themes of The House at Riverton is the haunting of the present by the past. In what ways does the novel suggest that the past can never be escaped? Do you agree that our pasts are inescapable?
9. Grace has resisted ever telling anyone about the events at Riverton. Why? What makes her change her mind? Is Grace a reliable narrator?Given her motive for recording her memories, can we trust her?
10. The twentieth century was a period of great and accelerated social change. In particular, the historical years that make up the bulk of Grace's memories comprised a time of enormous transition. In what ways does Grace's life exemplify these social changes?
11. Despite their differences, how might Grace and Hannah be seen as "doubles"? How does Grace's relationship with Alfred mirror Hannah's relationship with Robbie?
12. Another theme in The House at Riverton is that of inheritance — the way we are bound to our families through various items that are passed between the generations. Along with material inheritances, we are also subject to physical, social and psychological legacies. These inheritances are important in making us who we are, and are not easily escaped. In what way is this notion explored in The House at Riverton? How do these various types of inheritance influence the lives of Hannah, Frederick, Teddy, Robbie, Grace, Jemima and Simion?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The House at Tyneford
Natasha Solomons, 2011
Penguin Group USA
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452297647
Summary
It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England.
She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford's young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford—and Elise—forever. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Natasha Solomons is a British screenwriter and author of several novels: The Song of Hartgrove (2015), The Gallery of Vanished Husbands (2013), The House at Tyneford (2011), and Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English (2010). She lives with her husband in Dorset, England. (From the publisher.)
See an interesting article on Solomon's dyslexia in London's Evening Standard.
Book Reviews
Both a love story set during the Second World War and an elegy to the English country house... the greatest pleasure of the novel is its stirring narrative and the constant sense of discovery.
Times Literary Supplement (UK)
In 1938 Vienna, where it's no longer safe to be Jewish, 19-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her family and her upper-class lifestyle. As her parents await a visa to travel to New York and her sister prepares for a new life in California with her husband, Elise ventures off to the English countryside to serve as a maid in Christopher Rivers's ancestral home. Finding it difficult to adapt to her new station, the naive Elise yearns at first to rejoin her family. But with no end to the war in sight, Elise soon grows to love the house and everyone in it, including Christopher's reckless, impulsive son, Kit. Her newfound happiness is spoiled only when she learns that her parents are still in Vienna and that the war might claim the lives of those she loves the most. Verdict: Although certain parts are overwritten and drag, Solomons's (Mr. Rosenblum's List) poignant tale provides richly textured details that hold the reader's interest. Fans of Ann Patchett will find Solomons's style similar and will appreciate how the subdued tone and the quiet of the countryside contrast with the roar of war. —Natasha Grant, New York
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Elise points out how different Kit is from other boys she knows. What is your first impression of Kit? Are you drawn to him? How would you describe his relationship with his father, Mr. Rivers?
2. A confrontation with Diana inspires Elise to shock the partygoers during Kit’s birthday. What was your reaction to this moment? How did it affect Kit and Elise’s relationship? How did it change the way Mr. Rivers and the staff at Tyneford saw Elise?
3. What sacrifices does Mr. Rivers make to help Elise and her family? What did this tell you about Mr. Rivers? How would you describe his feelings toward Elise as the novel progresses?
4. Kit and Elise’s romance stirs up a great deal of emotion in and around Tyneford. What is your opinion of how Mr. Rivers receives the news of Kit’s love for Elise? What social and class challenges do you feel Kit and Elise faced?
5. What was your opinion of Kit’s decision regarding his involvement in the war? What do you feel motivated him in this decision? How did his relationships with Elise and his father affect his decision?
6. What happens to Kit? How does this affect Elise and Mr. Rivers? How does it affect the relationship between them?
7. The danger of war comes home when Elise spots a German fighter flying near Tyneford. What is significant about this event? What do you gather about Elise’s character from her reaction to this moment?
8. What does Elise discover about the novel Julian hid in the viola? What did you make of this turn of events? What impact does it have on Elise? What piece of work does the novel inspire and what significance does it have for Elise in the end?
9. What is your opinion of where Mr. Rivers and Elise’s relationship ends up? As you see it, what events led to Tyneford’s fate? What significance did Tyneford have to Elise, Kit, and Mr. Rivers? Can a place like Tyneford exist in today’s world?
10. Why do you think the novel in the viola blank?
11. The novel contains a concerto, and the viola contains a novel. What is the significance of music in the novel?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
A House for Mr. Biswis
V.S. Naipaul, 1961
Knopf Doubleday
576 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780375707162
Summary
The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul’s brilliant career, A House for Mr. Biswas is an unforgettable story inspired by Naipaul's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.
The book that first brought Naipaul worldwide acclaim, this richly comic novel tells the moving story of a man without a single asset who enters a life devoid of opportunity, and whose tumble-down house becomes a potent symbol of the search for identity in a postcolonial world
In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous—and endless—struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. A heartrending, dark comedy of manners, A House for Mr. Biswas masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 17, 1932
• Where—Chaguanas, Trinidad
• Education—Queen's Royal College, Trinidad; B.A., University
College, Oxford
• Awards—Nobel Prize, 2001; Booker Prize, 1971; knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II, 1990
• Currently—Wiltshire, England, UK
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a Trinidadian-born British writer of Indo-Trinidadian descent, currently resident in Wiltshire. Naipaul was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.
He is the son, older brother, uncle, and cousin of published authors Seepersad Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Neil Bissoondath, and Vahni Capildeo, respectively. His current wife is Nadira Naipaul, a former journalist.
In 1971, Naipaul became the first person of Indian origin to win a Booker Prize for his book In a Free State. In awarding him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, the Swedish Academy praised his work...
for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.... Naipaul is a modern philosophe carrying on the tradition that started originally with Lettres persanes and Candide. In a vigilant style, which has been deservedly admired, he transforms rage into precision and allows events to speak with their own inherent irony.
The Committee also noted Naipaul's affinity with the Polish author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad:
Naipaul is Conrad's heir as the annalist of the destinies of empires in the moral sense: what they do to human beings. His authority as a narrator is grounded in the memory of what others have forgotten, the history of thevanquished.
His fiction and especially his travel writing have been criticised for their allegedly unsympathetic portrayal of the Third World. Ideologue Edward Said, for example, has argued that he "allowed himself quite consciously to be turned into a witness for the Western prosecution", promoting "colonial mythologies about wogs and darkies". This perspective is most salient in The Middle Passage, which Naipaul composed after returning to the Caribbean after ten years of self-exile in England, and An Area of Darkness, an arguably stark condemnation on his ancestral homeland of India.
His works have become required reading in many schools within the developing World. Among English-speaking countries, Naipaul's following is notably stronger in the United Kingdom than it is in the United States.
Though a regular visitor to India since the 1960s, he has arguably "analysed" India from an arms-length distance, in some cases initially with considerable distaste (as in An Area of Darkness), and later with 'grudging affection' (as in A Million Mutinies Now), and of late perhaps even with 'ungrudging affection' (most manifestly in his view that the rise of Hindutva embodies the welcome, broader civilisational resurgence of India). He has also made attempts over the decades to identify his ancestral village in India, believed to be near Gorakhpur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh from where his grandfather had migrated to Trinidad as an indentured labourer. The mention of this is found in his work An Area of Darkness.
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Writing in the New York Review of Books about Naipaul, Joan Didion said:
The actual world has for Naipaul a radiance that diminishes all ideas of it. The pink haze of the bauxite dust on the first page of Guerrillas tells us what we need to know about the history and social organization of the unnamed island on which the action takes place, tells us in one image who runs the island and for whose profit the island is run and at what cost to the life of the island this profit has historically been obtained, but all of this implicit information pales in the presence of the physical fact, the dust itself... The world Naipaul sees is of course no void at all: it is a world dense with physical and social phenomena, brutally alive with the complications and contradictions of actual human endeavor... This world of Naipaul's is in fact charged with what can only be described as a romantic view of reality, an almost unbearable tension between the idea and the physical fact...
In several of his books Naipaul has observed Islam, and he has been criticised for dwelling on negative aspects, e.g. nihilism among fundamentalists. Naipaul's support for Hindutva has also been controversial. He has been quoted describing the destruction of the Babri Mosque as a "creative passion", and the invasion of Babur in the 16th century as a "mortal wound." He views Vijayanagar, which fell in 1565, as the last bastion of native Hindu civilisation. He remains a somewhat reviled figure in Pakistan, which he bitingly condemned in Among the Believers.
In 1998 a controversial memoir by Naipaul's sometime protégé Paul Theroux was published. The book provides a personal, though occasionally caustic portrait of Naipaul. The memoir, entitled Sir Vidia's Shadow, was precipitated by a falling-out between the two men a few years earlier.
In early 2007, V.S Naipaul made a long-awaited return to his homeland of Trinidad. He urged citizens to shrug off the notions of "Indian" and "African" and to concentrate on being "Trinidadian". He was warmly received by students and intellectuals alike and it seems, finally, that he has come to some form of closure with Trinidad.
Naipaul is married to Nadira Naipaul. She was born Nadira Khannum Alvi in Kenya and married in Pakistan. She worked as a journalist for the Pakistani newspaper, The Nation, for ten years before meeting Naipaul. They married in 1996, two months after the death of Naipaul's first wife, Patricia Hale. Nadira had been divorced twice before her marriage to Naipaul. She has two children from a previous marriage, Maliha and Nadir. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
(Some older works have few mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)
Arguably Mr. Naipaul's finest novel, A House for Mr. Biswas...created a bittersweet fictional portrait of his father, a struggling Trinidadian journalist trying to support his large family while holding onto his own dreams.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times (from a 2000 review of Naipaul's Between Father and Son)
Naipaul has constructed a marvelous prose epic that matches the best nineteenth-century novels for richness of comic insight and final, tragic power.
Newsweek
Discussion Questions
1. A House for Mr. Biswas is a largely autobiographical novel about V.S. Naipaul's own family. Mr. Biswas is based on Naipaul's father and the character of Anand on Naipaul himself. What specific experiences described in the novel, and especially the relationship between father and son, lead Anand to become a writer? What advantages will he have that Mr. Biswas did not? What conclusions can you draw about Naipaul's life based on the book?
2. Mr. Biswas enters into the world "six-fingered and born in the wrong way" [p. 15], and a life of bad luck is presaged for him. In what ways does this prophecy seem to come true?
3. Early in the novel, Mr. Biswas, a sign-painter and later a journalist, writes a love letter to Shama. What are the immediate consequences of this letter? What are its long-term effects? Is it ironic that writing plays such an important role in determining Mr. Biswas's fate?
4. At various points the narrative jumps ahead, describing an experience or situation years from the fictional present. When Mr. Biswas is cowed by the Tulsi family into marrying Shama, the narrator reflects, "How often, in the years to come, at Hanuman House or in the house at Shorthills or in the house in Port of Spain, living in one room, with some of his children sleeping on the next bed . . . how often did Mr. Biswas regret his weakness, his inarticulateness, that evening" [p. 87]! How does knowing the novel's fictional future affect the way we read what is happening in its present? For example, does Mr. Biswas' death, discussed in the prologue and therefore known throughout the novel, give a poignancy to his struggles?
5. Why do the characters in A House for Mr. Biswas switch between Hindi and broken English? What does this suggest about the hybrid nature of Trinidadian society and its colonial history?
6. Throughout the novel Mr. Biswas battles the Tulsi family, engaging in one quarrel after another. Why does he find living with them so distasteful, so humiliating? Why do the Tulsis, in turn, find Mr. Biswas unbearable? What kinds of things do they argue about? Are the subjects of these arguments inherently important or do mask more serious differences?
7. When Mr. Biswas moves his family to The Chase, he is puzzled by his wife's nagging: "Living in a wife-beating society, he couldn't understand why women were even allowed to nag or how nagging could have any effect" [p. 14]. And when Govind beats his wife Chinta, we're told that "her beatings gave Chinta a matriarchal dignity and, curiously, gained her a respect she had never had before" [p. 443]. Why would Chinta's status improve because of her beatings? How is flogging used throughout the novel? What does it suggest about power relations between men and women and between parents and children?
8. Why does Mr. Biswas feel trapped by his wife and family? Why does he regard Shama and the children as "alien growths, alien affections, which fed on him and called him away from that part of him which yet remained purely himself, that part which had for long been submerged and was now to disappear" [p. 461]? What kind of life does he feel his family keeps him from living?
9. Why does Mr. Biswas become a journalist? What aspects of his temperament and experience enable him to excel at the kind of writing the Sentinel initially demands? How does his success at the paper change his status within the Tulsi family? 10. Mr. Biswas tells his son Anand, "Remember Galilyo. Always stick up for yourself" [p. 267]. In what ways is Mr. Biswas himself a rebel? On what occasions does he defy others and stand up for himself?
11. Mr. Biswas is highly critical of Hinduism—and indeed of all religions—for most of the novel. He chides Owad for worshiping idols and blames the failure of his shop at The Chase on Hari's ritual blessing. What does the novel as a whole seem to be saying about the role of religion in Trinidadian society? How does religion affect the ways the characters in the novel treat each other?
12. When Owad returns from his medical studies at Cambridge, he is filled with opinions about writers and artists such as T. S. Eliot and Pablo Picasso, both of whom he loathes. He also considers himself a communist. After a bitter quarrel, Mr. Biswas suggests, "communism, like charity, should begin at home" [p. 533]. What does Naipaul appear to be saying, through the character of Owad and the quality of life at the Tulsi house, about the value of communal living?
13. Naipaul has often been praised for his comic gifts. Which scenes or situations in A House for Mr. Biswas give rise to comedy? In what ways does Mr. Biswas display his own comic and satiric sensibility?
14. In a letter he once wrote to his father, Naipaul explains that literature boils down to "writing from the belly rather than from the cheek. Most people write from the cheek. If the semi-illiterate criminal wrote a long letter ordinarily to his sweetheart, it would be what most letters of such people generally are. If the criminal wrote this letter last thing before his execution, it would be literature; it would be poetry." In what ways does Naipaul himself write from the belly rather than the cheek?
15. A House for Mr. Biswas tells the story of an ordinary man with modest ambitions whose life is not marked by dramatic events. How does Naipaul imbue his story with the pathos and significance that have won the book worldwide acclaim since its initial publication? Does Mr. Biswas achieve a kind of victory at the end?
16. In what ways does Mr. Biswas's longing for a house of his own parallel Trinidad's struggle for national independence? What is it that fuels his longing? What does owning a house represent for him? In what ways is the Tulsi family like ruling colonial power? At the end of the novel, Mr. Biswas is finally able to realize his dream of owning a house, but the experience is not what he anticipated. How is his experience symbolic of Trinidad's own situation after the end of colonial rule?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The House Girl
Tara Conklin, 2013
HarperCollins
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062207395
Summary
The House Girl, the historical fiction debut by Tara Conklin, is an unforgettable story of love, history, and a search for justice, set in modern-day New York and 1852 Virginia.
Weaving together the story of an escaped slave in the pre–Civil War South and a determined junior lawyer, The House Girl follows Lina Sparrow as she looks for an appropriate lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking compensation for families of slaves. In her research, she learns about Lu Anne Bell, a renowned prewar artist whose famous works might have actually been painted by her slave, Josephine.
Featuring two remarkable, unforgettable heroines, Tara Conklin's The House Girl is riveting and powerful, literary fiction at its very best. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
• Raised—Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.A.L.D., Tufts Univesity; J.D., New York University
• Currently—lives in Seattle, Oregon
Tara Conklin was born on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and raised in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Yale University and received her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as a law degree from New York University School of Law.
Conklin's first novel, The House Girl, published in 2013, was a New York Times bestseller. The Last Romantics, her second, was released in 2019.
A joint US-UK citizen, Tara now lives with her family in Seattle. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Lawyer-turned-writer Conklin debuts with a braided novel of two intersecting tales separated by 150 years. In 2004, Lina Sparrow is a first-year associate at a prestigious New York law firm; in 1852, Josephine Bell is the titular "house girl," a slave on a Virginia farm. Assigned to work on a class-action suit involving slavery reparations, Lina searches out a suitable plaintiff for the case, hoping to find a descendant of slaves with an especially compelling story. Lina's father, an artist, suggests that Lina research the story of Josephine, speculated to be the real artist behind paintings attributed to Lu Anne Bell, her white master, and Lina embarks on a search that finds her retracing the footsteps of a runaway slave. The tragedy of Josephine leads Lina deeper into not only Josephine's history but her own, which helps her to make sense of her mother, a woman Lina never knew. Alternating between Lina and Josephine, this novel is unfortunately trite, predictable, and insensitive at its core: the lives of a 19th-century black slave and a 21st-century white lawyer are not simply comparable but mutually revealing, fodder for healing. Striving for affecting revelations, Conklin manages nothing more than unsatisfying platitudes and smugly pat realizations.
Publishers Weekly
First-year law firm associate Lina Sparrow must find someone to serve as the face of a historic class-action lawsuit worth a fortune in reparations for descendants of American slaves. Since it's now suspected that antebellum artist Lu Anne Bell's empathetic depictions of slaves were the work of her house slave, Josephine, Lina is determined to track down one of Josephine's descendants.
Library Journal
Luminous.... The rare novel that seamlessly toggles between centuries and characters and remains consistently gripping throughout.... Powerful.
BookPage
Conklin persuasively intertwines the stories of two women separated by time and circumstances but united by a quest for justice...Stretching back and forth across time and geography, this riveting tale is bolstered by some powerful universal truths.
Booklist
[O]verlapping contemporary and historical fictions—in this case, the lives of a young lawyer defining herself in 21st-century New York and a young slave with secret talents in 19th-century Virginia. In 1852, on a failing Virginia farm, 17-year-old Josephine cares for her dying mistress Lu Anne,... [who] taught the girl to read and to paint.... Cut to 2004. Lu Anne's art is highly prized as the work of a protofeminist artist sensitive to the plight of slaves. But...[s]ome art critics wonder if paintings attributed to Lu Anne were really completed by Josephine.... As the focus shifts back and forth between the centuries, Josephine evolves into a wonderfully fresh character whose survival instinct competes with her capacity for love as she tries to reach freedom. But...lawyer, Lina, comes across more as a sketch than a portrait, and the choices she makes are boringly predictable. Provocative issues of race and gender intertwine in earnest if uneven issues-oriented fiction.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. As a servant in the Bell's home Josephine is literally "The House Girl." But how does this title also apply to Lina's character? What is the significance of Lina leaving her father's house at the close of the story?
2. The definition of "family" is unclear in this story: Lina's mother is absent for all of her life, Josephine's son is fathered by her married master. As Lina reflects on her mother's artwork she wonders whether you can create family connections: "What is blood and what is decision?" What is your response?
3. Separated by more than two centuries, Lina and Josephine's characters never meet, but Conklin's narrator tells this story through each of their perspectives. What similarities do you find between these two women? What would each character be able to teach the other?
4. On an empty page in her favorite book, Grace Sparrow writes "who is free?" We know that Josephine, Lottie and the others at the Bell plantation are literally enslaved. But who else experiences a lack of freedom in this story? Do you think these characters achieve freedom by the close of the novel?
5. Lu Anne Bell's relationship to Josephine is intense. She allows this slave, who gave birth to a boy fathered by her own husband, to remain in their home. She shares the most intimate moments of vulnerability with her when her illness is at its worst. But how does Josephine feel towards Lu Anne? How does she perceive her role in Lu Anne's life?
6. Taking us back and forth between Josephine and Lina's worlds, the narrator gives us an intimate look into the lives of both women. But Conklin also introduces Caleb Harper and Dorothea Rounds as additional narrators, speaking through their letters. What did their narrations add to the story? How did they change your understanding of Josephine and others living and working in the Bell's community?
7. Josephine "keeps" her memories in Mr. Jefferson's chest of drawers. How is this similar to Oscar's paintings of Grace? How do these characters confront the loss and pain they've experienced? How do they hide things away?
8. In the final pages of the novel, Lina decides to call her mother, asking Jasper to dial the phone number. What do you think Lina will say? Is she ready to build a relationship? Has she forgiven her mother for leaving?
9. Many people ask Lina why she has chosen to become a lawyer. Does she ever give a satisfying answer? Lina's law professor had taught her that the "law is the bastion of reason…there is no place for feeling." Why does a career like this appeal to Lina, the artist's daughter? How does this appeal wane throughout the story?
10. Many of the characters are trying to atone for acts committed in the past—Caleb, for his work with the slave catcher, Dorothea for her brother Percy's death, Oscar for not being a "good husband" to Grace. Do you think they are successful?
11. What is the role of religion in Josephine's world? How does religious belief both help and hinder Lottie?
12. Lina and Dorothea are both women seeking to excel in areas dominated by men—Lina, at a corporate law firm; Dorothea, in the abolitionist movement, what her father calls "not work for women." How do their experiences differ? How are they the same?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The House I Loved
Tatiana de Rosnay, 2012
St. Martin's Press
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312593308
Summary
Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a “modern city.” The reforms will erase generations of history—but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.
Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years.
The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman’s indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls. (From the publisher.)
Read an excerpt
Author Bio
• Birth—September 28, 1961
• Where—Suburbs of Paris, France
• Education—B.A., University of East Anglia (UK)
• Currently—lives in Paris, France
Tatiana de Rosnay, born in the suburbs of Paris, is of English, French and Russian descent. Her father is French scientist Joël de Rosnay, her grandfather was painter Gaëtan de Rosnay. Tatiana's paternal great-grandmother was Russian actress Natalia Rachewskïa, director of the Leningrad Pushkin Theatre from 1925 to 1949.
Tatiana's mother is English, Stella Jebb, daughter of diplomat Gladwyn Jebb, and great-great-granddaughter of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the British engineer. Tatiana is also the niece of historian Hugh Thomas.
Tatiana was raised in Paris and then in Boston, when her father taught at MIT in the 70's. She moved to England in the early 1980s and obtained a Bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. On her return to Paris in 1984, she was a press officer, then became a journalist and literary critic for Psychologies Magazine.
Since 1992, de Rosnay has published twelve novels in French and three in English. She has also worked on the series Family Affairs for which she has written two episodes with the screenwriter Pierre-Yves Lebert. The series was broadcasted on TF1 during the summer of 2000.
In 2006 de Rosnay published her most popular novel, Sarah's Key, selling over three million copies in French and almost two million in English. In 2009 the book was adapted into French cinema, under the same title by Serge Joncour, with Kristin Scott Thomas as Julia; the movie was converted to English in late 2011. She published A Secret Kept in 2009, Rose in 2011, and The House I Loved in 2012.
In January 2010, several French magazines issued a ranking of the top French novelists, placing de Rosnay at number eight. In January 2011, Le Figaro magazine published a ranking of the top ten most read French authors, positioning de Rosnay at fifth. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
In her quietly elegant 11th novel, the bestselling author of Sarah’s Key again explores the idea of home as both sanctuary and embodiment of history… [Rose’s] letters, poetic and honest, reveal a world soon to be destroyed by progress. A mesmerizing look at how the homes and neighborhoods we occupy hold not only our memories but our secrets as well.
People
Parisian Rose Bazelet is a woman in mourning, for her husband and son, both long dead; for her distant daughter; and because of Napoleon III’s ambitious urban planning agenda in the mid-19th century, an enormous project that could destroy her beloved family estate. With the planners already leveling nearby houses, Rose hides in her cellar and writes letters to her deceased husband about her struggle to save their home. As the letters continue, and destruction grows near, Rose remembers her married life. With the planners “rattling about at the entrance” and taking her friend Alexandrine, who has come to rescue her, by surprise, Rose reveals to her late husband the dark secret she could never bring herself to tell him when he was alive. Though bestseller de Rosnay’s epistolary narrative is slow to build, it’s fraught with drama, as the Sarah’s Key author aims to create an immersive experience in a hugely transformative period in Paris (see Paul La Farge’s Haussmann, or the Distinction), when the city was torn between modernity and tradition. In Rose, one gets the clear sense of a woman losing her place in a changing world, but this isn’t enough to make up for a weak narrative hung entirely on the eventual reveal of a long-buried secret.
Publishers Weekly
A strong marketing campaign and interest from fans of de Rosnay's popular Sarah's Key will undoubtedly spur demand for the title. However, many readers will likely be disappointed by de Rosnay's latest Paris novel, which relies more on telling than showing. —Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato
Library Journal
Those who enjoyed Sarah’s Key will recognize de Rosnay’s love for her native France and appreciate the poignancy and tenacity of her characters.
Booklist
Amid Baron Haussmann's demolition of her quartier, a woman refuses to leave her home in de Rosnay's latest (Sarah's Key, 2008, etc.).... [S]he writes a letter...reflecting on her life, and attempting to parse her own motivations. All tends toward the revelation of a secret she has confessed to no one. De Rosnay's delicacy and the flavor of her beloved Paris are everywhere in this brief but memorable book. Replete with treats, particularly for Paris-lovers—indeed for anyone wedded to a special place.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. One of the central elements of the novel is Rose’s deep and abiding love for the house in
which she spent her married life, which becomes apparent from her many memories tied
to every room. What does the house represent for Rose and how did it change her life?
By the end of the novel, it seems as though Rose views her house as the most important
thing in her life. Although others would see the house as a possession, do you think
Rose views it that way? Have you ever had this experience of loving a place or a thing as
deeply as if it were a living person?
2. Baron Haussmann was described by his opponents as the "Atilla of the straight line"
and "the Ripper Baron", nicknames that Rose approved of. But Alexandrine, the flower
girl, does not agree, and has another point of view, that of a necessary progress that Paris
badly needed. How do Rose's and Alexandrine's opinions differ and why? Whose do you
feel closest to?
3. Rose loves her son Baptiste deeply, despite the fact that he was associated with an
extremely difficult time of her life – and more than she seems to love their natural
daughter, Violette. Why do you think this is? Do you think it’s true to life or even
possible to love someone (or something) who comes out of intense hardship? Why or
why not? Have you ever experienced or seen relationships like those which Rose has with
each of her children?
4. Secrets are an important theme throughout The House I Loved. By the end of the novel,
we learn that Rose has kept a devastating secret for her entire life from everyone she
holds dear. How do you think it affects a person to keep such an important secret for so
long? How did it affect Rose? Have you ever had a similar experience?
5. In a sense, Rose’s letters to her husband throughout the novel are her way of finally
revealing her secret. Do you see any purpose in her telling the secret at this point in her
life, with her husband already gone? Does it change or help her? And if so, how?
6. Between the years of 1852 and 1870, Napoleon III and Baron Haussman remodeled
major sections of Paris in an attempt to bring the city into the “modern” era. Did you
know anything about this major period of time in Paris’s history before reading this
novel? What surprised or interested you about how Tatiana recreated that era?
7. How do you feel that Rose's secret past (the episode she hides from her husband and
entourage) relates to what Haussmann, the "ripper Baron,” is doing to Paris? How exactly
does Rose, in the final pages, describe her personal ordeal and compare it to Haussmann's
tearing down of her home?
8. Flowers play an important part in this novel. Discuss what Rose learns through the
flower-shop and Alexandrine's job as a florist. Pick out the rare roses and their names,
and how Tatiana de Rosnay uses the symbol of roses and flowers throughout the book.
9. Alexandrine the flower-girl, and Gilbert, the ragpicker, are close to Rose, in different
ways. Discuss the differences and similiarities of their relationship with Rose, of their
secret past, of how they each try to help Rose.
10. The elegant Baronne de Vresse fascinates Rose with her fashionable crinolines and the
balls she attends in Paris and Biarritz. Rose loves clothes and fashion, yet she strongly
disapproves of the fashionable Emperor and Empress. Why do you think this is so? How
does it speak to who Rose is as a character?
11. Rose discovers the joys of reading late in life. How and when does this happen? What is
the first book she falls in love with? Who are the authors she most enjoys reading? Have
you read them? How did you fall under the spell of reading?
12. If you have read Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept, Tatiana's previous novels, can you pick
up a couple of themes that are common to all three books?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The House I Loved |
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The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune, 2019
Tom Doherty Books
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250217288
Summary
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
TJ Klune is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include The House on the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries, both published in 2020. Being queer himself, TJ believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
(Starred reviewed) Quirk and charm give way to a serious exploration of the dangers of complacency in this delightful, thought-provoking Orwellian fantasy…. By turns zany and heartfelt, this tale of found family is hopeful to its core. Readers will revel in Klune’s wit and ingenuity.
Publishers Weekly
As Linus gets to know the six children and their caretakers, he witnesses the strong bonds between them and the unique community they've created.… A delightful tale about chosen families, and how to celebrate differences. —Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.
Library Journal
This is a sweet narrative about the value of asking questions and the benefits of giving people (especially children) a chance to be safe, protected, and themselves, regardless of what assumptions one might glean from, say, reading their case file.
Booklist
Klune has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness…. [F]ans of quirky fantasy will eat it up. A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Summary | Author | Book Reviews | Discussion Questions
House of Daughters
Sarah-Kate Lynch, 2008
Penguin Group USA
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452289383
In Brief
With effervescent wit and clear-eyed insight, Sarah-Kate Lynch explores the rivalries and bonds of sisterhood amidst the lush countryside of France's Champagne province. Clementine is the rightful heir to the House of Peine, the vineyard that has been in the family for generations.
She has spent her whole life caring for the vines, not to mention caring for her sour brute of a father. But now that the Peine patriarch is dead, his will stipulates that Clementine must share the vineyard with a half-sister she hasn't seen in twenty years and another she didn't even know existed. As one vineyard brings three estranged siblings together, readers will savor this heartfelt toast to sisterhood and inspired celebration of Champagne. (From the publisher.)
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About the Author
A tireless researcher, Sarah-Kate Lynch trailed the byways of Ireland sampling dairy products for her first novel, Blessed Are the Cheesemakers, and perfected French sourdough bread for her second, By Bread Alone. In the interests of maintaining her artistic integrity regarding House of Daughters, she considers it her duty to drink as much champagne as she can possibly manage. (From the publisher.)
More
Sarah-Kate Lynch is quite a cranky journalist of several decades who prefers making things up to recording them accurately. This is not very good if you are a journalist, which may explain (a) the crankiness and (b) why she now writes novels.
She also writes two columns in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, New Zealand's best-read magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about books.
Sarah-Kate lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island and is currently very glad she has not bothered to amass a fortune thereby saving herself the angst of having it halved.
She is also glad she lives on a cliff top because what with global warming and all, she could be underwater as well as poor.
As it is she lives very happily with a lovely dog called Ginger and a husband called Ted. Oh, hang on, no, that's not right. The dog is called Ted and the husband is Ginger. (From the author's website.)
Extras
From a 2008 interview with her publisher, Penguin Group:
Q: What inspired you to write House of Daughters?
I decided one year, due to being old and getting terrible hangovers from drinking still white wine, that I would only drink champagne for a year because it was too expensive to ever afford much of, thereby only ever theoretically coming in small amounts. This proved to be a slightly flawed idea, as it turns out, because I simply set my research skills to finding how to get it cheaper. During this process, I discovered what it was that made champagne pricey in the first place: it all comes from a very small part of France and is made to a very strict recipe handed down from one generation to the next.
Well, that was very much up my alley, and when I found out that champagne is made from three different grapes all blended together in different amounts each year to get the exact same taste, the story of three different sisters having to work together for the good of something bigger than themselves started to fall into place. I have two sisters and we get along very well, I couldn’t imagine not having them, or falling out with them. We’re like grapes, we come in a bunch.
Q: How did you go about doing research for House of Daughters?
I went straight to Champagne! I’ve been a food writer in the past so had contacts that got me in the door at Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Chandon, and Krug. Lunch with Remi Krug in Reims was a highlight – as was driving with him! Those were the big name champagne brands that have astonishing PR arms but I probably learned more in terms of what I would base the house of Peine on from the Tarlant family near Epernay, where I stayed for a bit, and where they grow their own grapes and where four generations of the family meet once a year to decide on the blend. One of my proudest moments was when the Tarlants wrote to me and asked if they could sell the UK version of the House of Daughters from their winery...and they sent it to customers as a Christmas present.
Critics Say . . .
(There don't seem to be any mainstream press reviews online for this novel. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for their customer reviews.)
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. The three sisters in this novel are very different. Do you see any similarities?
2. How are you different from, or like, your siblings? Do your differences and similarities draw you closer to your siblings?
3. The relationship between sisters has long been a subject of fascination in literature. Why do you think readers are so interested in sisters?
4. Clementine's father is a difficult man at the beginning of the novel. Did you find him more sympathetic by the end of the novel?
5. Which sister did you relate to the most? Why?
6. How important was the setting in the novel to you? Did it enrich or limit your experience of the story in any ways? Could you imagine this story set in a different environment?
7. Which essential part of champagne-making reflects the relationship between the sisters?
8. Sarah-Kate Lynch chose the names of her characters deliberately. Each sister is named after a quality she does not have at the beginning of the novel, but has been recognized for at the end. Can you pick those three qualities?
10. How important is a name in shaping a person’s character in real life? How does a character’s name influence your impressions of the character?
11. The novel is set in France and written as though perhaps translated from French. Did you use the glossary to translate the French words? Did you find the French words distracting or endearing?
12. Did the novel inspire you to learn more about champagne and the process of making champagne? Was that an integral part of the reading experience for you? Have you been to a champagne vineyard?
13. The three sisters all fall for Hector. Did you believe they were all in love with him? Why do you think each sister needed Hector’s attentions at that particular moment in their lives?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
House of Echoes
Brendan Duffy, 2015
Random House
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804178112
Summary
In this enthralling and atmospheric thriller, one young family’s dream of a better life is about to become a nightmare.
Ben and Caroline Tierney and their two young boys are hoping to start over. Ben has hit a dead end with his new novel, Caroline has lost her banking job, and eight-year-old Charlie is being bullied at his Manhattan school.
When Ben inherits land in the village of Swannhaven, in a remote corner of upstate New York, the Tierneys believe it’s just the break they need, and they leave behind all they know to restore a sprawling estate. But as Ben uncovers Swannhaven’s chilling secrets and Charlie ventures deeper into the surrounding forest, strange things begin to happen. The Tierneys realize that their new home isn’t the fresh start they needed...and that the village’s haunting saga is far from over.
House of Echoes is a novel that shows how sometimes the ties that bind us are the only things that can keep us whole. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Branden Duffy is an editor. He lives in New York, where he is at work on his second novel. That's all he wants to tell us. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Ben and his wife, Caroline...hope to build a new and better life by converting an old farming estate into a country inn. Instead of the idyllic life they expected, alarming things start happening.... Duffy does a good job building the suspense, but some readers may feel let down by the implausible ending.
Publishers Weekly
Duffy expertly builds suspense, leaving readers eager to know what happens while simultaneously dreading the outcome. This creepy page-turner will appeal to fans of Stephen King and anyone who loves a good ghost story. —Vicki Briner, Westminster, CO
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Duffy walks a fine line between crime and horror, skillfully manipulating the threats of a punishing winter, creepy historic setting, and strange villagers. . . . This unsettling, atmospheric tale is right up the alley of those who enjoyed Jennifer McMahon’s Winter People; and the shared appeal with Stephen King’s The Shining is undeniable.
Booklist
(Starred review.) A fluid, suspenseful yet subtle thriller, with touches of humor, evocative writing, and characters that are both familiar and uniquely fascinating. A wonderfully tense and heart-wrenching debut.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton, 1905
~360 pp. (varies by publisher)
Summary
A literary sensation when it was first serialized in Scribners magazine in 1905, The House of Mirth quickly established Edith Wharton as the most important American woman of letters in the twentieth century.
The first American novel to provide a devastatingly accurate portrait of New York's aristocracy, it is the story of the beautiful and beguiling Lily Bart and her ill-fated attempt to rise to the heights of a heartless society in which, ultimately, she has no part.
Wharton’s dark view of society, the somber economics of marriage, and the powerlessness of the unwedded woman in the 1870s emerge dramatically in this tragic nove. Faced with an array of wealthy suitors, Lily falls in love with lawyer Lawrence Selden, whose lack of money spoils their chances for happiness together. Dubious business deals and accusations of liaisons with a married man diminish Lily’s social status, and as she makes one bad choice after another, she learns how venal and brutally unforgiving the upper crust of New York can be. (Adapted from Penguin Classics edition and Barnes & Noble versions.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 24, 1862
• Where—New York, NY
• Death—August 11, 1937
• Where—Paris, France
• Education: Educated privately in New York and Europe
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence, 1921,
French Legion of Honor, 1916
One of America's most important novelists, Edith Wharton was a refined, relentless chronicler of the Gilded Age and its social mores. Along with close friend Henry James, she helped define literature at the turn of the 20th century, even as she wrote classic nonfiction on travel, decorating and her own life.
More
Edith Newbold Jones was born January 24, 1862, into such wealth and privilege that her family inspired the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses." The youngest of three children, Edith spent her early years touring Europe with her parents and, upon the family's return to the United States, enjoyed a privileged childhood in New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Edith's creativity and talent soon became obvious: By the age of eighteen she had written a novella, and (as well as witty reviews of it) and published poetry in the Atlantic Monthly.
After a failed engagement, Edith married a wealthy sportsman, Edward Wharton. Despite similar backgrounds and a shared taste for travel, the marriage was not a success. Many of Wharton's novels chronicle unhappy marriages, in which the demands of love and vocation often conflict with the expectations of society. Wharton's first major novel, The House of Mirth, published in 1905, enjoyed considerable Literary Success. Ethan Frome appeared six years later, solidifying Wharton's reputation as an important novelist. Often in the company of her close friend, Henry James, Wharton mingled with some of the most famous writers and artists of the day, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, André Gide, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, and Jack London.
In 1913 Edith divorced Edward. She lived mostly in France for the remainder of her life. When World War I broke out, she organized hostels for refugees, worked as a fund-raiser, and wrote for American publications from battlefield frontlines. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her courage and distinguished work.
The Age of Innocence, a novel about New York in the 1870s, earned Wharton the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921 — the first time the award had been bestowed upon a woman. Wharton traveled throughout Europe to encourage young authors. She also continued to write, lying in her bed every morning, as she had always done, dropping each newly penned page on the floor to be collected and arranged when she was finished. Wharton suffered a stroke and died on August 11, 1937. She is buried in the American Cemetery in Versailles, France.
Extras
• Surprisingly, in addition to her career as a fiction writer, Wharton was also a well-known interior designer. Her book, The Decoration of Houses was widely read and is today considered the first modern manual of interior design.
• Upon the publication of The House of Mirth in 1905, Wharton became an instant celebrity, and the the book was an instant bestseller, with 80,000 copies ordered from Scribner's six weeks after its release.
• Wharton had a great fondness for dogs, and owned several throughout her life. (From Barnes and Noble.)
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Book Reviews
(Classic works have few, if any, mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)
Mrs. Wharton's serial in Scribner's [magazine], "The House of Mirth," develops in a rather grim fashion.... Nevertheless, we must be grateful for these glimpses of the inner social circle, given by one who has the magic password. "The House of Mirth," indeed, must be accepted as a "document" and it's descriptions of the functions and foibles of "our best society" will surely be treasured by historians as testimony.
New York Times (4/1/1905)
Lily's rather violent tumble down the social ladder provides a thumbnail sketch of the general injustices of the upper classes (which, incidentally, Wharton never quite manages to condemn entirely, clearly believing that such life is cruel but without alternative). From her start as a beautiful woman at the height of her powers to her sad finale as a recently fired milliner's assistant addicted to sleeping drugs, Lily Bart is heroic, not least for her final admission of her own role in her downfall. —Melanie Rehak
Editors - Amazon.com
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. Wharton took the title for her novel from a verse in Ecclesiastics—"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in The House of Mirth." Does Lily Bart's allegiance to the follies and superficialities of society mean that she has the "heart of a fool" or is she trapped by the dictates of her upbringing and the expectations of the times?
2. What does Wharton mean when she describes Lawrence Selden as a man with "the stoic's carelessness of material things, combined with the Epicurean's delight in them" [p.152]? Are his scorn and aloofness attitudes only a man could assume in the society Wharton depicts? How genuine are they? Does his readiness to attend certain social events and to indulge in gossip and flirtations with Lily belie his chosen role as a "spectator"?
3. The people in Lily's circle disdain the "new" millionaires who acquired their money in business rather than through inheritance, yet in many ways their social world is predicated on a business ethic. How does the language of the novel reflect this? In what ways do the social "exchanges" among the characters mimic business dealings, even when they don't involve the actual exchange of money?
4. Lily rejects both Sim Rosedale, a fabulously rich man of "unacceptable" lineage, and Selden, a man she clearly admires who cannot support her in style. Do these rejections represent an unrealistic, perhaps inflated, view of her own worth and potential? Are they purely selfish or do they reflect an underlying sense of morality on Lily's part?
5. Even early in the novel, Wharton offers hints that foreshadow Lily's public humiliation by the Trenors and the Dorsets, her abandonment by Carry Fisher, and her aunt's decision to disinherit her. What events alert you to the true nature of the other character's feelings and attitudes toward her? Is Lily too naive to grasp the significance of these events? Does she genuinely misunderstand her financial arrangement with Gus Trenor or simply choose to ignore its "obvious" implications? When she agrees to accompany the Dorsets on the cruise, is she unaware of her role as a mask for Bertha's affair with Ned Silverton?
6. What does Lily's great success in the tableaux vivants symbolize within the context of the novel? Does it reveal, as Selden believes, "the real Lily Bart"? [p. 134] Why does Lily respond to his enthusiasm and his confession of love afterwards by saying, "Ah, love me, love me—but don't tell me so"? [p. 138] What other examples are there of Lily's consciously adopting a pose, either literally or figuratively, to please an audience?
7. Both Lily's cousin, Grace Stepney, and Selden's cousin, Gerty Farish, live in genteel poverty on margins of society. How are their attitudes about their positions reflected in the way they treat Lily?
8. Lily and Selden have five intimate conversations: at his apartment in the opening chapter; at Trenors' country home, Bellomont; at the Brys after Lily's stunning performance in the tableaux vivants; in Mrs. Hatch's hotel room; and once again at Selden's apartment, on the day before Lily dies. How do the tone and contents of their conversations change as Lily's circumstances change, and what does this reveal about their feelings for one another? Are either of them really capable of loving and being loved?
9. Are all the women in the novel passive "victims," dependent on the power and money of men? Who really creates the rules in Lily's circle and how do they wield their powers? Why does Rosedale ultimately turn Lily away, despite his previous persistence in courting her and his aggressiveness in making his way into society? Is he right in believing that his money alone is not enough to rescue her reputation?
10. Is Lily's descent inevitable? What opportunities does she have to turn things around and why does she reject them? Does her decision not to use Bertha Dorset's letters to regain her social standing make sense in society that unquestioningly accepts the manipulations of Gus Trenor, Carry Fisher, and Bertha herself?
11. Edith Wharton wrote "A frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys. Its tragic implications lie in its power of debasing people and ideas." Do you think The House of Mirth is primarily a portrait of the frivolous and corrupt social world of New York or is it the story of Lily Bart's personal tragedy?
(Questions issued by Penguin Group; cover image, top-right.)
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House of Names
Colm Toibin, 2017
Scribner
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501140211
Summary
From the thrilling imagination of bestselling, award-winning Colm Toibin comes a retelling of the story of Clytemnestra—spectacularly audacious, violent, vengeful, lustful, and instantly compelling—and her children.
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra’s tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband King Agamemnon left when he set sail with his army for Troy.
Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
Judged, despised, cursed by gods she has long since lost faith in, Clytemnestra reveals the tragic saga that led to these bloody actions:
…how her husband deceived her eldest daughter Iphigeneia with a promise of marriage to Achilles, only to sacrifice her because that is what he was told would make the winds blow in his favor and take him to Troy;
…how she seduced and collaborated with the prisoner Aegisthus, who shared her bed in the dark and could kill
…how Agamemnon came back with a lover himself;
…and how Clytemnestra finally achieved her vengeance for his stunning betrayal—his quest for victory, greater than his love for his child.
In House of Names, Colm Toibin brings a modern sensibility and language to an ancient classic, and gives this extraordinary character new life, so that we not only believe Clytemnestra’s thirst for revenge, but applaud it. He brilliantly inhabits the mind of one of Greek myth’s most powerful villains to reveal the love, lust, and pain she feels.
Told in fours parts, this is a fiercely dramatic portrait of a murderess, who will herself be murdered by her own son, Orestes. It is Orestes’ story, too: his capture by the forces of his mother’s lover Aegisthus, his escape and his exile.
And it is the story of the vengeful Electra, who watches over her mother and Aegisthus with cold anger and slow calculation, until, on the return of her brother, she has the fates of both of them in her hands.(From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 30, 1955
• Where—Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, UK
• Education—B.A. University College, Dublin
• Awards—Costa Award
• Currently—lives in Dublin, Ireland
Colm Toibin is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.
Toibin is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He was hailed as a champion of minorities as he collected the 2011 Irish PEN Award. In 2011, he was named one of Britain's Top 300 Intellectuals by The Observer, despite being Irish.
Early Life
Toibin's parents were Bríd and Michael Toibin. He was born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. He is the second youngest of five children. His grandfather, Patrick Tobin, was a member of the IRA, as was his grand-uncle Michael Tobin. Patrick Tobin took part in the 1916 Rebellion in Enniscorthy and was subsequently interned in Frongoch in Wales. Colm's father was a teacher who was involved in the Fianna Fail party in Enniscorthy. He received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford, where he was a boarder between 1970 and 1972. He later spoke of finding some of the priests attractive.
In July 1972, aged 17, he had a summer job as a barman in the Grand Hotel in Tramore, County Waterford, working from six in the evening to two in the morning. He spent his days on the beach, reading The Essential Hemingway, the copy of which he still professes to have, "pages stained with seawater." It developed in him a fascination with Spain, led to a wish to visit that country, gave him "an idea of prose as something glamorous, smart and shaped, and the idea of character in fiction as something oddly mysterious, worthy of sympathy and admiration, but also elusive. And more than anything, the sheer pleasure of the sentences and their rhythms, and the amount of emotion living in what was not said, what was between the words and the sentences."
He progressed to University College Dublin, graduating in 1975. Immediately after graduation, he left for Barcelona. His first novel, 1990's The South, was partly inspired by his time in Barcelona; as was, more directly, his non-fiction Homage to Barcelona (1990). Having returned to Ireland in 1978, he began to study for a masters degree. However, he did not submit his thesis and left academia, at least partly, for a career in journalism.
The early 1980s were an especially bright period in Irish journalism, and the heyday for the monthly news magazine Magill. He became the magazine's editor in 1982, and remained in the position until 1985. He left due to a dispute with Vincent Browne, Magill's managing director.
Toibin is a member of Aosdana and has been visiting professor at Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. He has also lectured at several other universities, including Boston College, New York University, Loyola University Maryland, and The College of the Holy Cross. He is professor of creative writing at The University of Manchester succeeding Martin Amis and currently teaches at Columbia University.
Work
The Heather Blazing (1992), his second novel, was followed by The Story of the Night (1996) and The Blackwater Lightship (1999). His fifth novel, The Master (2004), is a fictional account of portions in the life of author Henry James. He is the author of other non-fiction books: Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border (1994), (reprinted from the 1987 original edition) and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994).
Toibin has written two short story collections. His first Mothers and Sons which, as the name suggests, explores the relationship between mothers and their sons, was published in 2006 and was reviewed favourably (including by Pico Iyer in The New York Times). His second, broader collection The Empty Family was published in 2010.
Toibin wrote a play, titled Beauty in a Broken Place: this was staged in Dublin in August 2004. He has continued to work as a journalist, both in Ireland and abroad, writing for the London Review of Books among others. He has also achieved a reputation as a literary critic: he has edited a book on Paul Durcan, The Kilfenora Teaboy (1997); The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999); and has written The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950 (1999), with Carmen Callil; a collection of essays, Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar (2002); and a study on Lady Gregory, Lady Gregory's Toothbrush (2002).
He sent a photograph of Borges to Don DeLillo who described it as "the face of Borges against a dark background—Borges fierce, blind, his nostrils gaping, his skin stretched taut, his mouth amazingly vivid; his mouth looks painted; he’s like a shaman painted for visions, and the whole face has a kind of steely rapture." DeLillo often seeks inspiration from it.
During Desmond Hogan's sexual assault case he defended him in court as "a writer of immense power and importance who dealt with human isolation."
In 2011, The Times Literary Supplement published his poem "Cush Gap, 2007".
Toibín works in the most extreme, severe, austere conditions. He sits on a hard, uncomfortable chair which causes him pain. When working on a first draft he covers the right-hand side only of the page; later he carries out some rewriting on the left-hand side of the page. He keeps a word processor in another room on which to transfer writing at a later time.
Themes
Toibin's work explores several main lines: the depiction of Irish society, living abroad, the process of creativity and the preservation of a personal identity, focusing especially on homosexual identities — Toibín is openly gay — but also on identity when confronted with loss. The "Wexford" novels, The Heather Blazing and The Blackwater Lightship, use Enniscorthy, the town of Toibín's birth, as narrative material, together with the history of Ireland and the death of his father. An autobiographical account and reflection on this episode can be found in the non-fiction book, The Sign of the Cross. In 2009, he published Brooklyn, a tale of a woman emigrating to Brooklyn from Enniscorthy.
Two other novels, The Story of the Night and The Master revolve around characters who have to deal with a homosexual identity and take place outside Ireland for the most part, with a character having to cope with living abroad. His first novel, The South, seems to have ingredients of both lines of work. It can be read together with The Heather Blazing as a diptych of Protestant and Catholic heritages in County Wexford, or it can be grouped with the "living abroad" novels. A third topic that links The South and The Heather Blazing is that of creation. Of painting in the first case and of the careful wording of a judge's verdict in the second. This third thematic line culminated in The Master, a study on identity, preceded by a non-fiction book in the same subject, Love in a Dark Time. The book of short stories "Mothers and Sons" deal with family themes, both in Ireland and Catalonia, and homosexuality.
Toibín has written about gay sex in several novels, though Brooklyn contains a heterosexual sex scene in which the heroine loses her virginity. In his 2012 essay collection New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families he studies the biographies of James Baldwin, J. M. Synge and W. B. Yeats, among others.
His personal notes and work books reside at the National Library of Ireland. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Written with the ‘knowledge that the time of the gods has passed, Colm Toibin’s take on the classic myth of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in House of Names evokes a husband’s vanity and a wife’s rage, casting the fragility of our closest bonds in fresh light.
Vogue
Toibíin refreshes a classic…. The result is a dramatic, intimate chronicle of a family implosion set in unsettling times as gods withdraw from human affairs. Far from the Brooklyn or Ireland of his recent bestsellers, Toibin explores universal themes of failure, loss, loneliness, and repression.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Irish master Toibin's new novel is a taut retelling of a foundational Western story.…This extraordinary book reads like a pristine translation rather than a retelling, conveying both confounded strangeness and timeless truths about love's sometimes terrible and always exhilarating energies. —John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Brilliant...Tóibín's accomplishment here is to render myth plausible while at the same time preserving its high drama... gripping... The selfish side of human nature is... made tangible and graphic in Toibin's lush prose.
Booklist
Toibin, an enthusiast of classic storytelling…takes a crack at Greek mythology.… Toibin reframes this version in "a time when the gods are fading," the better to lay the blame for our human failures plainly on ourselves.… [A]lternately fiery and plodding, but Toibin plainly grasps the reasons for its timelessness.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Clytemnestra speaks of "a hunger I had come to know too and had come to appreciate" (page 3) in the opening pages. What does this hunger signify? Why do death and appetite come together in these early scenes, particularly for Clytemnestra?
2. Agamemnon and his men seem to believe in the gods so much that they will sacrifice Iphigenia unquestioningly, while this act cements for Clytemnestra "that I did not believe at all in the power of the gods" (page 32). Do you think she is the only one with doubts?
3. Why does Clytemnestra brush Electra aside after Iphigenia’s death? Could the consequences of Clytemnestra’s "first mistake" (page 40) with Electra have been avoided?
4. Was Clytemnestra wise to trust in Aegisthus? What are his true motives? Would you have relied on him in Clytemnestra’s place?
5. As Clytemnestra leads Agamemnon to the bath where she will murder him she feels a "small pang of desire," "the old ache of tenderness" for him (page 62). Why do these feelings spring up? Why do they not give her second thoughts, instead of strengthening her resolve?
6. After Orestes is taken, Clytemnestra still imagines "exerting sweet control" over Aegisthus and Electra and "the possibility of a bloodless future for us" (page 69). How is she able to be so optimistic at this point?
7. With Leander and the guards, Orestes feels that "if only he could think of one single right question to ask, then he would find out what he needed to know" (page 101). Why is this? How does this feeling characterize Orestes throughout the novel?
8. When Orestes needs to attack one of the men pursuing him, he thinks he "could do anything if he did not worry for a second or even calculate" (pages 124–25). How does this kind of thinking play out in his future actions?
9. Why does Mitros refuse to share with Orestes and Leander what the old woman told him would happen to them in the future (page 138)? How does their time with the old woman, Mitros and the dog shape both Orestes and Leander?
10. Does Electra mourn Iphigenia? Why does Electra so completely spurn Clytemnestra, envisioning her death in the sunken garden with a smile (page 147)?
11. How is the dinner where Electra wears a dress of Iphigenia’s and attempts to catch the eye of Dinos a turning point for her?
12. Why does Electra tell Orestes they live in a "strange time…when the gods are fading" (page 206)?
13. When Mitros’ father talks with Orestes about Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, Orestes says Clytemnestra "did not kill Iphigenia," and Mitros says the gods demanded that and continues to lay all blame at Clytemnestra’s feet (page 217–19). Eventually, Orestes is swayed by Mitros’ insistence that Clytemnestra is in control of all and must be punished. How are they able to brush aside Aegisthus’ and even Agamemnon’s actions?
14. As Orestes prepares to kill his mother he envisions "what was coming as something that the gods had ordained and that was fully under their control" (page 234). But who else might be controlling Orestes in this moment?
15. After Clytemnestra’s death, how do Electra and Orestes continue to reflect and be affected by their mother?
16. Names—calling them, invoking them, remembering them—are significant throughout the novel. What power do they hold? Discuss what names mean to the old woman, the elders who lost their sons, Orestes and Leander and Clytemnestra.
17. House of Names is told from Clytemenestra’s, Orestes’ and Electra’s points of view. How do their different perspectives shape the narrative? What might Agamemnon’s account be like?
18. In his note about how he came to write House of Names, Tóibín says that "even though House of Names is animated by murder and mayhem and the struggle for power, it is still a story about a single family…something I have been dramatizing in all my books: the same emotions, the same regrets, the same elemental feelings." Are there insights you draw from this novel akin to those you might draw from a more conventional family story?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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House of Sand and Fog
Andre Dubus III, 1999
Knopf Doubleday
365 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780393338119
Summary
In this riveting novel of almost unbearable suspense, three fragile yet determined people become dangerously entangled in a relentlessly escalating crisis.
Colonel Behrani, once a wealthy man in Iran, is now a struggling immigrant willing to bet everything he has to restore his family's dignity. Kathy Nicolo is a troubled young woman whose house is all she has left, and who refuses to let her hard-won stability slip away from her. Sheriff Lester Burdon, a married man who finds himself falling in love with Kathy, becomes obsessed with helping her fight for justice.
Drawn by their competing desires to the same small house in the California hills and doomed by their tragic inability to understand one another, the three converge in an explosive collision course. Combining unadorned realism with profound empathy, House of Sand and Fog marks the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1959
• Where—Oceanside, California, USA
• Education—B.S., Univ. of Texas; Univ. of Wisconsin
• Awards—Pushcart Prize; National Magazine Award-Fiction,
1985
• Currently—lives in Newberry, Massachusetts
Andre Dubus III is an American writer best known as the author of the novel House of Sand and Fog, which was a National Book Award finalist in 1999 and was made into a movie in 2003. His other books include Bluesman, a 1993 novel, and The Cage Keeper and Other Stories from 1989. Dubus's work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize and the 1985 National Magazine Award for Fiction. It has also been included in "The One Hundred Most Distinguished Stories of 1993" and The Best American Short Stories of 1994. He was one of three finalists for the 1994 Prix de Rome given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He started his college career at Bradford College (Massachusetts), where his father taught, before moving on to study sociology at the University of Texas. He eventually dropped out of a Ph.D. program in the theory of social change at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then roamed the country working at a variety of jobs, including carpenter, construction worker, bounty hunter, bartender, counselor at a treatment center, and actor, before settling upon being a fiction writer.
He lives in Newbury, Massachusetts, with his wife, dancer and choreographer Fontaine Dollas, and their three children. He currently is on the adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he teaches general writing, fiction, and directed study courses.
His father, Andre Dubus (1936-1999), was a well known writer of short stories and novellas, and his cousin is the mystery writer James Lee Burke. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
[E]xamines what happens when ordinary men and women move across the tenuous barrier between the normal and the irrational....a story...about how people...are repeatedly trapped by circumstances and transformed...
Bill Sharp - The New York Times Book Review
(Audio version.) Dubus has created a novel that is nearly perfectly suited to the audio format. Kathy Nicolo is a recovering addict whose husband has left her and who is making her way in the straight world with her own cleaning business. When her house in the California hills is mistakenly seized by the county for back taxes and sold at public auction, she finds herself living out of her car and on the brink of desperation. Once a wealthy and powerful man in Iran and a colonel in the army under the Shah's rule, Behrani is now a struggling immigrant who hopes that he can sell the house for a large profit, so that he can once again provide his family with a lifestyle like the one they enjoyed in Iran. Emotions take precedence over ethics, logic, love and the law as their paths collide in a surprising and tragic conclusion. The reading by the author and his wife is sublime. Dubus's performance as the hot-headed Behrani is frightening in its intensity. His wife captures Kathy's dispassionate disbelief with a flat distance that is as effectively realistic as it is palpable.
Publishers Weekly
Through a careless bureaucratic error, Kathy Nicolo is evicted from her three-bedroom home in the California hills near San Francisco. Her marriage is over, her recovery from drug addiction is tenuous, and her income is almost nonexistent. Lester Burdon, the deputy sheriff who evicts her, also falls for her and vows to help her get the house back. Meanwhile, the house is sold at auction to Colonel Behrani, who hopes to resell it at enormous profit to help finance his return to his easy life in prerevolutionary Iran. The legal machinery grinds on slowly too slowly for the humans involved. The three main characters come from different cultures, religions, and social settings. The pleas, threats, arguments, and suggestions of each individual are incomprehensible to the others, escalating to a tragic and inevitable conclusion. Well produced, this book captures the hope, confusion, resolve, and uncertainty of all the characters. The frustration and anger are visceral, the tension intense. The actions of the players are made meaningful through the descriptions of their histories, cultures, and previous experiences. Read with feeling by the author and his wife, Fontaine Dubus; recommended. —Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence
Library Journal
In an enthralling tragedy built on a foundation of small misfortunes, Dubus (Bluesman) offers in detail the unraveling life of a woman who, in her undoing, brings devastation to the families of those in her path. It was bad enough when Kathy Lazaro stepped out of the shower one morning to find herself evicted from her house, a small bungalow to be auctioned the very next day in a county tax sale; bad enough that her recovering-addict husband had left her some time before, and that she had no friends at all in California to help her move or put her up. Then she also had to fall for the guy who evicted her, Deputy Les Burdon—married, with two kids. Sympathetic to her plight, Les lines up legal counsel and makes sure she has a place to stay, but his optimism (and the lawyer's) hits an immovable object in proud ex-Colonel Behrani, formerly of the Iranian Air Force, who fled his homeland with his family when the Shah was deposed and who has struggled secretly in San Francisco for years to maintain appearances until his daughter can make a good marriage. He's sunken his remaining life savings into buying Kathy's house, at a tremendous bargain, planning to reinvent himself as a real-estate speculator, and he has no wish to sell it back when informed that the county made a bureaucratic error. Hounded by both Kathy and Les—who has moved out, guiltily, on his family and brought his lover, herself a recovering addict, back to the bar scene—Behrani is increasingly unable to shield his wife and teenaged son from the ugly truth, but he still won't yield. Then Kathy tries to kill herself, and Les takes the law into his own hands.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Do you sympathize more with Kathy Nicolo or with Colonel Behrani in part one of the novel? How does Dubus's use of alternating first-person narratives affect your response to, and involvement with, the characters?
2. The contested ownership of the house on Bisgrove Street is the fulcrum of the novel's plot. Who, in your opinion, owns the house once Behrani has paid cash for it? What would be a fair solution to the conflict?
3. Early in the novel Behrani buys himself a hat, which he says gives him "the appearance of a man with a sense of humor about living, a man who is capable to live life for the living of it" [p. 28]. Why is this a poignant thing for Behrani to wish for himself? Does he in fact take life too seriously?
4. What does Kathy's response to Nick's desertion reveal about her character? Why does Lester fall in love with Kathy? Is he better for her than Nick was?
5. Lester tells Kathy that he had wanted to become a teacher, but plans changed when Carol became pregnant. Is Lester's job in law enforcement a poor fit for him? Why did he once plant evidence in a domestic violence case?
6. Who, of the three main characters, is most complex? Who is most straightforward?
7. Where does the hostility between Lester and Behrani spring from? How do their memories–Lester's of his teenage girlfriend and her brother, Behrani's of his murdered cousin, Jasmeen–function to reveal the deep emotions that motivate action in thisnovel?
8. At what point do Kathy's and Lester's actions depart from the path of a simple desire for justice and move into something else? Why can neither of them seem to act rationally? Does Behrani act rationally?
9. Does Lester drink to break free of a sense of deadness, or to anesthetize himself? Why does he risk his family life as well as his professional life for his involvement with Kathy? Is he attempting to reinvigorate his life, or is he unconsciously seeking to destroy himself?
10. Note the epigraph to the novel, from "The Balcony" by Octavio Paz: "Beyond myself/ somewhere/ I wait for my arrival." How does it apply to the problems of self and alienation in each of the three main characters? Who has the clearest sense of his or her identity? What does it mean to have a clear sense of self?
11. Describing the success of her recovery program, Kathy says, "I had already stopped wanting what I'd been craving off and on since I was fifteen, for Death to come take me the way the wind does a dried leaf out on its limb" [p. 46]. How does the novel affect your response to the social and psychological issues of addiction, depression, and suicide? Do you find yourself being understanding or judgmental of Kathy as the stress of the conflict increases? Is she actually more of a survivor than she thinks she is?
12. Is Behrani's wife, Nadereh, an admirable character? Does her feminine role in a very traditional marriage reduce her importance as an actor in this drama? Does she have qualities that are missing in Behrani, Kathy, and Lester?
13. Behrani tells his son, "Remember what I've told you of so many Americans: they are not disciplined and have not the courage to take responsibility for their actions. If these people paid to us the fair price we are asking, we could leave and she could return. It is that simple. But they are like little children, son. They want things only their way" [p. 172]. How accurate is his perception of Americans? How well does it apply to Kathy and Lester?
14. How does House of Sand and Fog highlight the conflict between downwardly mobile Americans and upwardly mobile recent immigrants? What role does racism play in the reaction of Americans and foreigners to each other?
15. Why has Kathy avoided telling her mother and brother the truth about her situation? Does their meeting at the end of the novel resolve any of Kathy's difficult feelings about her place in the family?
16. Should Behrani be held responsible, on some level, for the crimes and excesses of the Shah's regime? Is he responsible for Esmail's fate?
17. Why does Behrani put on his military uniform at the climax of the novel?
18. What do you find most disturbing about the novel's denouement? If you find yourself imagining an alternate ending, what would that ending be?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende, 1985
Random House
433 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780553273915
Summary
Chilean writer Isabel Allende's classic novel is both a symbolic family saga and the story of an unnamed Latin American country's turbulent history. Allende constructs a spirit-ridden world and fills it with colorful and all-too-human inhabitants. The Trueba family's passions, struggles, and secrets span three generations and a century of violent change, culminating in a crisis that brings the proud and tyrannical patriarch and his beloved granddaughter to opposite sides of the barricades. Against a backdrop of revolution and counterrevolution, Allende brings to life a family whose private bonds of love and hatred are more complex and enduring than the political allegiances that set them at odds. (From the publisher.)
More
The House of the Spirits is the magnificent epic of the Trueba family—their loves, their ambitions, their spiritual quests, their relations with one another, and their participation in the history of their times, a history that becomes a destiny and overtakes them all.
We begin—at the turn of the century, in an unnamed South American country—in the childhood home of the woman who will be the mother and grandmother of the clan, Clara Del Valle. A warm-hearted, hypersensitive girl, Clara has distinguished herself from an early age with her telepathic abilities—she can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future. Following the mysterious death of her sister, the fabled Rosa the Beautiful, Clara has been mute for nine years. When she breaks her silence, it is to announce that she will be married soon.
Her husband-to-be is Esteban Trueba, a stern, willful man, given to fits of rage and haunted by a profound loneliness. At the age of 35, he has returned to the capital from his country estate to visit his dying mother and to find a wife. (He was Rosa's fiance, and her death has marked him as deeply as it has Clara.) This is the man Clara has foreseen—has summoned—to be her husband; Esteban, in turn, will conceive a passion for Clara that will last the rest of his long and rancorous life.
We go with this couple as they move into the extravagant house he builds for her, a structure that everyone calls "the big house on the corner," which is soon populated with Clara's spiritualist friends, the artists she sponsors, the charity cases she takes an interest in, with Esteban's political cronies, and, above all, with the Trueba children...their daughter, Blanca, a practical self-effacing girl who will, to the fury of her father, form a lifelong liaison with the son of his foreman...the twins, Jaime and Nicolas, the former a solitary, taciturn boy who becomes a doctor to the poor and unfortunate; the latter a playboy, a dabbler in Eastern religions and mystical disciplines...and, in the third generation, the child Alba, Blanca's daughter, who is fondled and indulged and instructed by them all.
For all their good fortunate, their natural (and supernatural) talents, and their powerful attachments to one another, the inhabitants of the "big house on the corner" are not immune to the larger forces of the world. And as the 20th century beats on...as Esteban becomes more strident in his opposition to Communism...as Jaime becomes the friend and confidant of the Socialist leader known as the Candidate...as Alba falls in love with a student radical...the Truebas become actors—and victims—in a series of events that gives The House of the Spirits a deeper resonance and meaning. (From the first edition.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 2, 1942
• Where—Lima, Peru
• Education—private schools in Bolivia and Lebanon
• Awards—Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, 1998; Sara Lee
Foundation Award, 1998; WILLA Literary Award, 2000
• Currently—lives in San Rafael, California, USA
Isabel Allende is a Chilean writer whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition. Author of more than 20 books—essay collections, memoirs, and novels, she is perhaps best known for her novels The House of the Spirits (1982), Daughter of Fortune (1999), and Ines of My Soul (2006). She has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author." All told her novels have been translated from Spanish into over 30 languages and have sold more than 55 million copies.
Her novels are often based upon her personal experience and pay homage to the lives of women, while weaving together elements of myth and realism. She has lectured and toured many American colleges to teach literature. Fluent in English as a second language, Allende was granted American citizenship in 2003, having lived in California with her American husband since 1989.
Early background
Allende was born Isabel Allende Llona in Lima, Peru, the daughter of Francisca Llona Barros and Tomas Allende, who was at the time the Chilean ambassador to Peru. Her father was a first cousin of Salvador Allende, President of Chile from 1970 to 1973, making Salvador her first cousin once removed (not her uncle as he is sometimes referred to).
In 1945, after her father had disappeared, Isabel's mother relocated with her three children to Santiago, Chile, where they lived until 1953. Allende's mother married diplomat Ramon Huidobro, and from 1953-1958 the family moved often, including to Bolivia and Beirut. In Bolivia, Allende attended a North American private school; in Beirut, she attended an English private school. The family returned to Chile in 1958, where Allende was briefly home-schooled. In her youth, she read widely, particularly the works of William Shakespeare.
From 1959 to 1965, while living in Chile, Allende finished her secondary studies. She married Miguel Frias in 1962; the couple's daughter Paula was born in 1963 and their son Nicholas in 1966. During that time Allende worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Santiago, Chile, then in Brussels, Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe.
Returning to Chile in 1996, Allende translated romance novels (including those of Barbara Cartland) from English to Spanish but was fired for making unauthorized changes to the dialogue in order to make the heriones sound more intelligent. She also altered the Cinderella endings, letting the heroines find more independence.
In 1967 Allende joined the editorial staff for Paula magazine and in 1969 the children's magazine Mampato, where she later became editor. She published two children's stories, Grandmother Panchita and Lauchas y Lauchones, as well as a collection of articles, Civilice a Su Troglodita.
She also worked in Chilean television from 1970-1974. As a journalist, she interviewed famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda told Allende that she had too much imagination to be a journalist and that she should become a novelist. He also advised her to compile her satirical columns in book form—which she did and which became her first published book. In 1973, Allende's play El Embajador played in Santiago, a few months before she was forced to flee the country due to the coup.
The military coup in September 1973 brought Augusto Pinochet to power and changed everything for Allende. Her mother and diplotmat stepfather narrowly escaped assassination, and she herself began receiving death threats. In 1973 Allende fled to Venezuela.
Life after Chile
Allende remained in exile in Venezuela for 13 years, working as a columnist for El Nacional, a major newspaper. On a 1988 visit to California, she met her second husband, attorney Willie Gordon, with whom she now lives in San Rafael, California. Her son Nicolas and his children live nearby.
In 1992 Allende's daughter Paula died at the age of 28, the result of an error in medication while hospitalized for porphyria (a rarely fatal metabolic disease). To honor her daughter, Allenda started the Isabel Allende Foundation in 1996. The foundation is "dedicated to supporting programs that promote and preserve the fundamental rights of women and children to be empowered and protected."
In 1994, Allende was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Order of Merit—the first woman to receive this honor.
She was granted U.S. citizenship in 2003 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004. She was one of the eight flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
In 2008 Allende received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from San Francisco State University for her "distinguished contributions as a literary artist and humanitarian." In 2010 she received Chile's National Literature Prize.
Writing
In 1981, during her exile, Allende received a phone call that her 99-year-old grandfather was near death. She sat down to write him a letter wishing to "keep him alive, at least in spirit." Her letter evolved into The House of the Spirits—the intent of which was to exorcise the ghosts of the Pinochet dictatorship. Although rejected by numerous Latin American publishers, the novel was finally published in Spain, running more than two dozen editions in Spanish and a score of translations. It was an immense success.
Allende has since become known for her vivid storytelling. As a writer, she holds to a methodical literary routine, working Monday through Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. "I always start on 8 January,"Allende once said, a tradition that began with the letter to her dying grandfather.
Her 1995 book Paula recalls Allende's own childhood in Santiago, Chile, and the following years she spent in exile. It is written as an anguished letter to her daughter. The memoir is as much a celebration of Allende's turbulent life as it is the chronicle of Paula's death.
Her 2008 memoir The Sum of Our Days centers on her recent life with her immediate family—her son, second husband, and grandchildren. The Island Beneath the Sea, set in New Orleans, was published in 2010. Maya's Notebook, a novel alternating between Berkeley, California, and Chiloe, an island in Chile, was published in 2011 (2013 in the U.S.). Three movies have been based on her novels—Aphrodite, Eva Luna, and Gift for a Sweetheart. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/23/2013.)
Book Reviews
I'd forgotten how much I like this book—having just re-read it after 18 years. The three generations of women who populate the story and the eponymous house of spirits make fascinating and compelling characters. It's very much a feminist work as we watch three women.... read more.
A LitLovers LitPick (Feb 08)
Extraordinary...powerful...sharply observant, witty and eloquent.
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt - New York Times
The only cause The House of the Spirits embraces is that of humanity, and it does so with such passion, humor, and wisdom that in the end it transends politics....The result is a novel of force and charm, spaciousness and vigor.
Jonathan Yardley - Washington Post
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The House of the Spirits:
1. Rosa dies early in the book. Her green hair and unearthly beauty engender comparisons to mermaids. What symbolic meaning does she carry—and why, at the end, is her body still intact? Figure that one out!
2. The names of the other three women, Clara, Blanca, and Alba refer to white, or the lack of color—while Rosa's name refers to red. Any ideas?
3. You might explore the dichotomy between Esteban and Clara: one a hard materialist, the other a spiritualist (not unlike what E.M Forster does in Howards End). Is Allende perhaps commenting on the dual aspects of human life...the need to incorporate both approaches in our lives?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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The House on Fortune Street
Margot Livesey, 2008
HarperCollins
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061451546
Summary
It seems like mutual good luck for Abigail Taylor and Dara MacLeod when they meet at university and, despite their differences, become fast friends. Years later they remain inseparable: Abigail, the actress, allegedly immune to romance, and Dara, a therapist, throwing herself into relationships with frightening intensity.
Now both believe they've found "true love." But luck seems to run out when Dara moves into Abigail's downstairs apartment. Suddenly both their friendship and their relationships are in peril, for tragedy is waiting to strike the house on Fortune Street. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 24, 1953
• Where—Perth, Scotland, UK
• Education—B.A., University of York, England
• Awards—L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award
• Currently—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Margot Livesey is a Scottish born writer. She is the author of eight novels, numerous short stories, and essays on the craft of writing fiction.
Livesey came to North America during the 1970s where she worked to get her fiction published, reportedly because her boyfriend at the time was also a writer.
Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and a number of literary quarterlies. She is also the Fiction Editor at Ploughshares, a renowned literary journal. Livesey served as a judge for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction in 2012.
She currently lives in the Boston area and is the writer-in-residence at Emerson College and at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has formally served as a professor at Boston University, Bowdoin College, Tufts University, Carnegie Mellon University, Brandeis University, Cleveland State University, Williams College, and at the University of California, Irvine. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/16/2016.)
When asked by Barnes and Noble editors in 2004, what book influenced her the most, Livesey had this to say:
This sounds self-centered but the book that had the biggest impact on me as a writer was the novel I wrote when I was twenty-two and traveling around Europe and North Africa. When I reread it at the end of the year I was amazed at how completely I had failed to be influenced by the many wonderful books I'd read. My characters were unbelievable, their conversations preposterous, the plot simultaneously dull and far-fetched, etc., etc. Seeing the enormous gap between the books I loved and my own was what made me want to be a writer in a serious way.
Book Reviews
What does it mean to be an unmarried woman?.... In her new novel, The House on Fortune Street, Margot Livesey brings nuance, context and a cool head to this hot-button issue through detailed portraits of two friends in their 30s: Abigail, who owns the house of the title, and Dara, who rents the downstairs apartment. Both women are unmarried, but they have distinct emotional templates and back stories that give them different ideas about the role men ought to play in their lives.… Livesey, the author of half a dozen previous works of fiction, is a lovely, cautious writer. She likes to take her time building the atmosphere her characters move through, adding increments of color, dot by dot.
Liesl Schillinger - New York Times
For all its melancholy, the novel leaves readers with a surprising hopefulness. Some of this arises from the pleasures of its style: Livesey has chosen every detail here with precision, from toast crumbs to paint colors, to evoke the shimmering illusion of these characters' home-based lives. For all her care, the construction feels effortless. Even the stark divisions of the book into quarters seem inevitable rather than jarring.
Donna Rifkind - Washington Post
The absorbing latest from Livesey (Homework) opens multiple perspectives on the life of Dara MacLeod, a young London therapist, partly by paying subtle homage to literary figures and works. The first of four sections follows Keats scholar Sean Wyman: his girlfriend, Abigail, is Dara's best friend, and the couple lives upstairs from Dara in the titular London house. While Dara tries to coax her boyfriend Edward to move out of the house he shares with his ex-girlfriend and daughter, Sean receives a mysterious letter implying that Abigail is having an affair, and both relationships start to fall apart. The second section, set during Dara's childhood, is narrated by Dara's father, who has a strange fascination with Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and shares Dodgson's creepy interest in young girls. Dara's meeting with Edward dominates part three, which mirrors the plot of Jane Eyre, and the final part, reminiscent of Great Expectations, is told mainly from Abigail's college-era point of view. The pieces cross-reference and fit together seamlessly, with Dara's fate being revealed by the end of part one and explained in the denouement. Livesey's use of the classics enriches the narrative, giving Dara a larger-than-life resonance.
Publishers Weekly
Life has a way of parceling out both good luck and bad, and for the residents of the duplex on the ironically named Fortune Street.... Intricately weaving the cause and effect of each character’s circumstances into four self-contained but essentially linked episodes, Livesey, polished and intriguing as ever, explores the sinuous themes of regret and responsibility, truth and trust with an understated, yet tenacious certainty. —Carol Haggas
Booklist
Dara, a therapist at a women's center, lives in the downstairs flat of her friend Abigail's London home. A workaholic actress and theatrical producer, Abigail lives upstairs with her boyfriend, Sean, a struggling Keats scholar and writer. Although Dara and Abigail were best friends in college, their lives are so busy there is not much time for getting together. Sean is financially strapped and agrees to coauthor a book on euthanasia. He suspects Abigail is having an affair. Dara is involved with a married man she is perennially sure will leave his wife. And although she is often able to help her clients with their problems, Dara has never resolved issues revolving around her parents' divorce. Her father, Cameron, has never been able to tell her he struggled with attractions to young girls, whom he photographed obsessively. How these four characters ultimately fail at connecting with each other results in a tragedy three will regret for the rest of their lives. Livesey's latest novel (after Banishing Verona) keeps readers brooding over the power of secrets in this dark and disturbing psychological tale. Recommended for literary fiction collections.
Keddy Ann Outlaw - Library Journal
Love proves a destructive force in the lives of four Brits who have divergent perspectives on their interrelated dilemmas in another probing, satisfying novel from Livesey (Banishing Verona, 2004, etc.). In its first section, the story seems to be about a selfish, heartless actress, Abigail, who breaks up poor graduate student Sean's marriage, then sleeps with his university chum Valentine. Abigail's so busy and preoccupied she doesn't notice that her best friend, Dara, is in suicidal despair over a lying lover-but then again, neither does Sean until he comes across Dara's body in the downstairs flat of the house they all share on Fortune Street in London. The book's second section concerns Dara's childhood, seen through the eyes of her father Cameron, who has an unconsummated but unwholesome interest in prepubescent girls. His wife throws him out when she realizes his fondness for Dara's best friend is more than fatherly, and we see in the third section that his daughter has never recovered from Cameron's abrupt disappearance when she was ten. We also see that Dara is partly responsible for her disappointments in love, because she makes her boyfriends the obsessive center of her life. She's rather shocked by Abigail's casual attitude toward sex; even though the two women have been close since they met at university, their totally different personalities often chafe. Abigail, whose feckless parents let her work her way through both high school and university, is tough-minded and something of a user. She loves Dara, but can't understand her friend's neurotic vulnerability. In the moving final pages, Cameron confesses to Abigail what he could never tell Dara, and both confront their failures. "There was no question of them forgiving each other," Abigail bleakly concludes. Yet the novel is filled with sorrowful wisdom about the fallible human heart and our myopic view of ourselves and those we love. Moving, gruffly tender and piercingly truthful. Livesey has plenty of critical respect already, but her talents merit a broad popular audience as well.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Sean is characterized as someone who would rather not revisit "uncomfortable memories," and, as the anonymous letter says, "see what's right in front of [his] face." Is this tendency particular to Sean alone, or do other characters in the book suffer from the same myopia?
2. When Cameron takes Dara to the Charles Dodgson exhibit, he is trying to share something of himself with her. What makes him step back and, once again, refrain from divulging more of his inner life? Would telling her have helped Dara?
3. Is Dara deluding herself in her belief that Edward will leave his wife? How do Edward's intentions look through the eyes of other characters?
4. What role does coincidence play in the stories of all four characters? What role does it play in bringing the threads of these stories together?
5. Several characters in this book are profoundly affected by a past event, which they're never able either to come to terms with, or to fully understand. What is Livesey saying about the nature of childhood memories, particularly traumatic ones?
6. What role do letters play in the novel? What kind of information do they contain and, in each instance, how do they change the course of the narrative?
7. Each main character in the book has an affinity with a specific literary figure: Sean with John Keats; Cameron with Charles Dodgson; Dara with Charlotte Brontë; and Abigail with Charles Dickens. How do these "literary godparents" complement the reader's understanding of each character and his or her situation?
8. Abigail's story comes last. How does our view of Abigail—both in her dealings with Sean, and her dealings with Dara—change when we see events play out through her eyes? What part of Abigail's background is most influential in the formation of her character?
9. The story of The House on Fortune Street comes to us, piece by piece, through the perspectives of four characters. How does the order of the voices affect your reading of the novel as a whole?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The House on Fripp Island
Rebecca Kauffman, 2020
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780358041528
Summary
A taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife. When two families—one rich, one not—vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won't be returning home.
Fripp Island, South Carolina is the perfect destination for the wealthy Daly family: Lisa, Scott, and their two girls.
For Lisa’s childhood friend, Poppy Ford, the resort island is a world away from the one she and Lisa grew up in—and when Lisa invites Poppy's family to join them, how can a working-class woman turn down an all-expenses paid vacation for her husband and children?
But everyone brings secrets to the island, distorting what should be a convivial, relaxing summer on the beach. Lisa sees danger everywhere—the local handyman can't be allowed near the children, and Lisa suspects Scott is fixated on something, or someone, else.
Poppy watches over her husband John and his routines with a sharp eye. It's a summer of change for all of the children: Ryan Ford who prepares for college in the fall, Rae Daly who seethes on the brink of adulthood, and the two youngest, Kimmy Daly and Alex Ford, who are exposed to new ideas and different ways of life as they forge a friendship of their own.
Those who return from this vacation will spend the rest of their lives trying to process what they witnessed, the tipping points, moments of violence and tenderness, and the memory of whom they left behind. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—rural Northeastern Ohio, USA
• Education—B.A., Manhattan School of Music; M.F.A., New York University
• Currently—lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Rebecca Kauffman is originally from rural northeastern Ohio. She received her B.A. in Classical Violin Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, but as an inherently shy person she decided a career in music was not for her. After graduating, Kauffman stayed in New York City working in public relations. After a few years, she moved to Buffalo, New York, where she worked in a restaurant and taught music.
In her spare time Kaufmann turned to writing, something she had loved in her childhood—penning small books with help from her mother, who illustrated and laminated the finished product. As a young adult, she immersed herself again in fiction and realized she had found her calling.
Kauffman sent the first 30 pages of a novel she was working to New York University in the hopes of being accepted into its creative writing program. Although the manuscript was later trashed—"total garbage" as she referred to it in an NPR interview—her application was accepted, and she attained an M.F.A.
Kauffman's debut novel, Another Place You've Never Been, was published in 2016. Two years later came The Gunners, a book placed on many "must read," "eagerly awaited," and "a best book of 2018" lists. She published The House on Fripp Island in 2020.
She currently lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. (From various online sources, including WMRA Public Radio.)
Book Reviews
Page-turner pacing…. Combustible…. The tensions between predators and prey—and how quickly one can become the other—haunt the novel, from its ominous beginning to its heartrending conclusion. But Kauffman also deftly crafts moments of great tenderness and light throughout, reminding us that memory endures and life perseveres, even after a harrowing and grievous loss.
Charleston Post and Courier
The tensions between the haves and the have-nots offer an insight into contemporary America…. In watchful prose by turns powerful and delicate, the action builds to an event as inevitable as it was unpredictable. Gripping.
Sunday Times
Suspenseful…. While the fault lines… allow for plenty of tart observations on marital disenchantment, Kaufmann spins a secondary, far more disconcerting story about the toxic power of suspicion and rumour. A smart summer read.
Daily Mail (UK)
Kauffman’s keen, atmospheric follow-up to The Gunners explores class, friendship, and dark family secrets…inevitably, events spiral to a shocking conclusion. Kauffman’s characters leap off the page…. Readers will devour this suspenseful summer drama.
Publishers Weekly
Our assumptions about whose tensions, desires, rages, and shy longings might erupt into murder are provoked and reversed right up until the final pages, when the mystery of Fripp Island is revealed...An entertaining and ultimately tender book.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE HOUSE OF FRIPP ISLAND ... then take off on your own:
1. What is wrong with the Lisa and Scott Daly's marriage? How does their relationship compare to Poppy and John Ford's?
2. Talk about the role that class plays in this novel—a well-off couple hosting a not-so-well-off family. How do the differences in wealth drive the story?
3. Why does Rebecca Kauffman open her novel with the ghost of a member of one of the families? What is accomplished by "giving away" the ending? Why not just tell the story chronologically?
4. Of the 10 characters in this novel, which ones do you care for most, identify with, or… perhaps dislike?
5. How do Lisa's insecurities affect her daughter's behavior?
6. Everything seems normal at first, relaxed and untroubled, but the normality is not to last. What are the initial signs of unraveling?
7. All the characters hold some sort of secret or inner feelings of jealousy, resentment, suspicion. Dissect the emotional turmoil of the characters.
8. Poppy makes references to the income disparity?
It bothered Lisa that people without money seemed to think they could squawk on and on about people with money, all the ways their lives seemed so different and strange, whereas Lisa would never dream of breathing a word about their lives or homes.
Is Lisa justified in her irritation? Is it possible for two childhood friends to maintain a close childhood relationship when one "marries up," creating a distinct class separation?
9. Were you surprised, even shocked, by the final revelation, the twist at the end?
10. What are your thoughts about the book's epilogue set years later? What does it add to the story?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros, 1984
Knopf Doubleday
128 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780679734772
Summary
Told in a series of vignettes stunning for their eloquence, The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros's greatly admired novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Acclaimed by critics, beloved by children, their parents and grandparents, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, it has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics.
Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong—not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 20, 1954
• Where—Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., Loyola University; M.F.A., University of
Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Awards—American Book Award; MacArthur Fellow
• Currently—San Antonio, Texas
Sandra Cisneros' first novel, The House on Mango Street, brought an entirely new voice to American literature, describing the experience of narrator Esperanza Cordero, a Mexican American girl living a hardscrabble existence in Chicago. As Bebe Moore Campbell put it, in the New York Times Book Review: "She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one."
The book bore the author's powerful descriptive talents: Comparing her house on Mango Street with the "real house" her parents had promised her, Esperanza notes, "The house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath."
Cisneros, who grew up in Chicago as the only daughter in a family of seven children, attended college on scholarship and was an ethnic anomaly as a graduate student at University of Iowa's renowned Writers' Workshop. There is a lyric quality to Cisneros' work that makes sense, given her alternate life as a poet who has published several volumes of poetry (two, 1980's Bad Boys and 1985's The Rodrigo Poems, are no longer in print).
As a poet, Cisneros has a staccato, highly evocative style. From "A Few Items to Consider," for example: "First there is the scent of barley/to remember. Barley and rain./The smooth terrain to recollect and savor./Unforgiving whiteness of the room./Ambiguity of linen. Purity./Mute and still as photographs on the moon." Cisneros suffuses her poetry and fiction with healthy dose of Spanish and a feminine sensibility, female narrators who remember everything and for whom no detail or sensation is too small. Paragraphs are often punctuated by lists and five-word snapshots. As Cisneros herself has said, she is a miniaturist.
Her poetry and a 1991 collection of stories, Woman Hollering Creek, would have to tide fans over until the long-awaited release of her second novel, 2002's Caramelo. Like her first novel, the story is narrated by a Mexican-American girl; but the scope is a broader one, covering generations of a family as viewed through a cherished caramelo rebozo, or striped traditional shawl, which has been passed down through generations to the book's heroine.
Caramelo has a comical and occasionally unconventional spirit to it, as when one of the characters in the story breaks in to complain about how she is being portrayed. The novel began as an exploration of her own family, and the connection to Cisneros' own life is evident. Here as in other work, Cisneros fills in the gaps between Mexico and the U.S., personal myth and reality. (From Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Cisneros draws on her rich [Latino] heritage...and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one.
Bebe Moore Campbell - New York Times
Marvelous...spare yet luminous. The subtle power of Cisneros's storytelling is evident. She communicates all the rapture and rage of growing up in a modern world.
San Francisco Chronicle
A classic.... This little book has made a great space for itself on the shelf of American literature.
Julia Alvarez
Esperanza Cordero, a girl coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems and stories to express thoughts and emotions about her oppressive environment.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
(Below are two types of questions: 44 chapter-by-chapter questions, followed by 6 broader questions. Both sets are issued by Knopf Doubleday, the publisher.)
1. "The House on Mango Street"
In describing her house, or where she lives, what does Esperanza convey about her self-identity? How is the description of her house different from other information about her and her family’s identity, such as a name, an occupation, or a physical description?
2. "Hairs"
What binds the family together in The House on Mango Street?
3. "My Name"
What does Esperanza find shameful or burdensome about her name? Why might Cisneros have chosen this name for her protagonist?
4. "Cathy Queen of Cats"
Why is Cathy’s family about to move, and what does this mean to Esperanza?
5. "Our Good Day"
At this stage of her life, what are Esperanza’s friendships based on, and what do her friends mean to her? Does she fit in with an older or younger crowd, and how does she feel about her place in the social hierarchy?
6. "Laughter"
What common traits does Esperanza share with Nenny, and how does she distinguish herself from Nenny?
7. "Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold"
What makes Esperanza want the music box, and why is she ashamed of wanting it? How does her reaction to the box differ from Nenny’s reaction, and what does this difference tell the reader about the difference between the two girls? As in "Hairs" and "Laughter," how does Esperanza separate herself from her family?
8. "Meme Ortiz"
How do the residents of Mango Street interact with one another?
9. "Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin"
How do Esperanza’s vivid similes such as those in this story (“the nose of that yellow Cadillac was all pleated like an alligator’s” [p. 25]) or those in "Laughter" ("ice cream bells’ giggle" or laughter "like a pile of dishes breaking" [p. 17]) set the tone throughout the novel? As Esperanza matures, does her use of simile change?
10. "Marin"
Does Marin dream of sex, romance or love, or all three? What are her goals? How does Esperanza position herself vis-á-vis Marin, and what is her opinion of Marin? Can she identify with Marin, and how might Marin be or not be a role model for Esperanza?
11. "Those Who Don’t"
How does Esperanza’s view of herself compare to her perception of how others view her?
What is the picture of the neighborhood that Esperanza paints for the reader? Does this picture change the reader’s perception of the neighborhood from this point on in the book?
12. "There Was an Old Woman..."
Like "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays," the title of this story is long and filled with detail. What do these and other titles in the book convey about the people and the life surrounding Esperanza? What kind of tone do these longer titles set for the story? What do they suggest about Esperanza’s character? How are children regarded in Esperanza’s community?
13. "Alicia Who Sees Mice"
How has Esperanza’s relationships with Alicia changed since "Cathy Queen of Cats"? How does Esperanza’s portrait of Alicia compare to her portrait of Marin? What do these portraits indicate about the differences between the two girls, and about Esperanza herself?
14. "Darius & the Clouds"
How does Esperanza keep her dreams alive? Does she hold any religious beliefs?
15. "And Some More"
What is the importance of names? How does Esperanza portray names in this story in comparison to her own name in "My Name"? How has her narrative voice changed from that earlier story?
16. "The Family of Little Feet"
To what degree is Esperanza aware of sex and sexuality? What does this indicate to the reader about her age?
17. "A Rice Sandwich"
What kind of person is Esperanza? What does the reader learn from this story about her strengths and weaknesses?
18. "Chanclas"
What stage in Esperanza’s life does this story capture, and how is this stage portrayed? How has Esperanza’s voice changed from the previous stories "And Some More" and "The Family of Little Feet," and in what ways is her voice still the same?
19. "Hips"
How does Esperanza distinguish herself from Nenny in this story? Does this distinction echo the one in "Gil’s Furniture Bought and Sold"? How does Esperanza distinguish herself from the other girls she plays with, and has her relationship with them changed since the earlier stories such as "And Some More" or "Our Good Day"? Has Esperanza’s comprehension of her own sexuality changed since "Marin," and, if so, how?
20. "The First Job"
What range of emotions does Esperanza experience in this story, and how does Cisneros convey these emotions to the reader without naming them? How does Esperanza express her emotions in this story differently than those she experienced in "A Rice Sandwich" or "Chanclas" and, if so, why?
21. "Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark"
What is Esperanza’s relationship with her father? How does this story develop Esperanza’s character?
22. "Born Bad"
What clues does this story provide about the roles of women and men in Esperanza’s community? How does this story, like "Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark," evidence Esperanza’s character development?
23. "Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water"
Does the superstition expressed in this story conflict or coexist with any religious beliefs Esperanza may hold? With what tone does Esperanza describe her visit to Elenita?
24. "Geraldo No Last Name"
What is the significance of this being the last story in the book in which Marin is mentioned?
25. "Edna’s Ruthie"
What does Esperanza learn from Ruthie’s experience that helps her formulate goals?
26. "The Earl of Tennessee"
What does Esperanza learn from Earl that might help her formulate goals?
27. "Sire"
How has Esperanza’s awareness of her own sexuality evolved from "Hips" to this story? How have her imagination and her desires moved away from her negative sexual experience in "My First Job"?
28. "Four Skinny Trees"
What do the trees symbolize? What does Esperanza impose of her own character on the trees, and what does she take from the trees? How do the trees compare to the clouds in "Darius & the Clouds"?
29. "No Speak English"
What does Esperanza tell us about her community’s attitude towards non-Mexican Americans? What about the image that the non-Latinos have of the Latinos? How do these views help or hinder Esperanza in the formulation of her own personal identity?
30. "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut..."
What conflicting needs or desires of Esperanza’s does her description of Rafaela’s situation convey?
32. "Sally"
Compare the portrait of Sally to that of Marin in "Marin." How is Esperanza’s relationship with Sally different?
33. "Minerva Writes Poems"
With what tone is Esperanza’s plaintive "There is nothing I can do" conveyed? [p. 85]
34. "Bums in the Attic"
Why does Esperanza wish to house “bums” in her attic?
35. "Beautiful & Cruel"
Does Esperanza reconcile the images of herself as "ugly" [p. 88] and "beautiful and cruel," and what does each self-image imply about her future?
36. "A Smart Cookie"
What does Esperanza learn from her mother in this story, and how might their relationship be characterized?
37. "What Sally Said"
With what tone does Esperanza convey the violence Sally suffers? How does this tone convey her attitude toward abuse? Has Esperanza’s attitude changed from the earlier stories? Compare Esperanza’s family’s response toward this abuse with how the community reacts toward domestic violence and abuse in general.
38. "The Monkey Garden"
What is the nature of Sally’s and Esperanza’s friendship? Can Esperanza ever recover what she lost in the monkey garden? What does the monkey garden symbolize?
39. "Red Clowns"
What does Esperanza lose in "Red Clowns," and how does it compare to her loss in "The Monkey Garden"? What clues does Cisneros provide the reader about the precise nature of the assault on Esperanza?
40. "Linoleum Roses"
How and why has Esperanza’s tone toward Sally changed?
41. "The Three Sisters"
In what way do the Sisters provide the decisive turning point for Esperanza? How does Esperanza’s community fit into her vision of her own future?
42. "Alicia & I Talking on Edna’s Steps"
What is the significance of the fact that the only lasting friendship Esperanza seems to have is with Alicia?
43. "A House of My Own"
How does Esperanza’s dream house in this story and in "Bums in the Attic" differ from Sally’s dream house in "Linoleum Roses"? How does Cisneros utilize the recurring image of a house as a metaphor to tie her stories together thematically and structurally? Is the house a positive or negative image? What does it alternatively preserve or imprison within its walls, and what does it keep out? How is Esperanza’s house on Mango Street alike or different from the other houses portrayed in the stories? [See, e.g., “Meme Ortiz”]
44. "Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes"
Why must Mango say goodbye to Esperanza, and not vice versa? Why is Mango Street personified as a "she"? Might Esperanza’s view of her own name have changed at this point, and, if so, how might she describe it? (Questions issued by the publisher.)
__________________
Broader Questions
1. From the beginning, Esperanza senses she does not want to end up inheriting her great-grandmother’s “place by the window . . . the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow” [“My Name” p. 11]. How does Esperanza emotionally and physically separate herself from the other women: Marin, Sally, Rafaela, Minerva, or Ruthie? Will her solution in “Beautiful & Cruel” [“I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate” p. 89] be an effective one? How is her self-esteem formed, and how does it evolve over the course of the novel? What obstacles will Esperanza have to overcome, and what battles will she have to fight as she carves a future for herself?
2. Can or should The House on Mango Street be categorized as a coming-of-age novel, or is it more complex than that?
3. How do the children who inhabit Mango Street become the men and women portrayed in the novel? For instance, what circumstances explain how the Vargas children, Meme Ortiz, the girls Esperanza plays with, and her own sisters grow into the adults of Mango street such as Esperanza’s parents, the husbands and fathers in the neighborhood, the young wives, and the older single adults such as Earl and Ruthie? Is the children’s fate inevitable? How does Esperanza set an example for how they can shape their own futures?
4. If you have some knowledge of the history of Chicanos in America–how they arrived here and their place in society, how does The House on Mango Street reflect this history? How is the Chicanos’ treatment in society–i.e., their systematic exclusion–alike or different from that of other minority groups?
5. Given that the narrator is a young female, how does Cisneros make Esperanza and her stories accessible to older and/or male readers? Does Esperanza’s youth affect her telling of the story and her reliability as a narrator? Is there a universal message about one’s identity that transcends Esperanza’s individual experience?
6. Cisneros’s prose has been described as “poetic” and “lyrical.” What characteristics of the stories made these critics choose these descriptive words? What other words might be used to describe the selections in The House on Mango Street and why? Are the selections in The House on Mango Street most aptly labeled (a) stories, (b) sketches, (c) vignettes, or (d) poems, and what characteristics make them one or the other? How does Cisneros make the collection of sketches or stories work together as a book structurally and thematically?
(Questions issued by publisher.)